Proposal:Specific permits

Specific permits
Proposal status:	Draft (under way)
Proposed by:	M!dgard
Tagging:	private=exceptional_permit
Applies to:	node, way, area, relation
Definition:	Tagging for access restriction requiring a permit that is not routinely granted to anyone who asks; plus a way to specify which such permit is required
Statistics:
Draft started:	2023-09-21

Proposal

An access restriction refinement for permits that are not routinely issued to everyone who just asks. I propose to choose one of these:

1. private=exceptional_permit and exceptional_permit=area:name_of_the_permit.
2. Or an exceptional_permit = area:name_of_the_permit condition for Conditional restrictions.

Rationale

Traffic signs on the boundary of the car-free area in Gent, for which you need a BE:gent:autovrij_gebied permit

The tag access=permit is intended for cases where permits are routinely issued to everyone who just asks. This situation is common for nature preserves in the United States.

We are direly missing a tag for cases where a permit is not routinely granted. Currently the solution the wiki suggests is using private. In practice; permit is often misused for this case.

It would be good to fill this gap with a solution that allows data users to provide which permits they own, and route accordingly.

The term "exceptional permit" was the best I could think of, but suggestions for a better one are still welcome!

Disclosure: I was paid by a delivery company to think of a solution, and to map the Ghent car-free zone.

Alternative 1

The following tags are refinements to a private access restriction.

• private=exceptional_permit: to become part of the private in-club, you can request a specific permit, but you may need a good reason to be granted one.
• exceptional_permit=area:name_of_the_permit (recommended): specify which permit is required.

area:name_of_the_permit is a placeholder. The names of the permits can be listed on a to-be-created wiki page.

Examples

The streets in the car-free area in Gent, Belgium: 44701054 44701054

• vehicle=private
• private=exceptional_permit
• exceptional_permit=BE:gent:autovrij_gebied

The streets in that car-free area that are part-time pedestrian street: 40952647 40952647

• vehicle=no
• vehicle:conditional=private @ (18:00-11:00)
• private=exceptional_permit
• exceptional_permit=BE:gent:autovrij_gebied

Hypothetical example with different modes having different private=* values:

• bicycle=private
• private:bicycle=students
• vehicle=private
• private:vehicle=exceptional_permit
• exceptional_permit:vehicle=ZZ:example

Alternative 2

• access=no
• access:conditional=yes @ (exceptional_permit = area:name_of_the_permit)

Instead of access=*, of course any access restriction can be used.

area:name_of_the_permit is a placeholder. The names of the permits can be listed on a to-be-created wiki page.

Examples

The streets in the car-free area in Gent, Belgium get:

• vehicle=no
• vehicle:conditional=yes @ (exceptional_permit = BE:gent:autovrij_gebied)

The streets in that car-free area that are part-time pedestrian street get:

• vehicle=no
• vehicle:conditional=yes @ (18:00-11:00 AND exceptional_permit = BE:gent:autovrij_gebied)

Hypothetical example with different modes having different private=* values:

• bicycle=private
• private=students
• vehicle=no
• vehicle:conditional=yes @ (exceptional_permit = ZZ:example)

Choosing between the alternatives

The benefits I see for alternative 1:

• It avoids the more complicated and error-prone conditional system.
• You can route over them by allowing private access.

The benefits I see for alternative 2:

• It provides even greater flexibility: this is an example of something that is mappable with alternative 2 but not with 1: vehicle:conditional=yes @ (Sa,Su AND exceptional_permit=BE:example:weekend_pass); yes @ (exceptional_permit=BE:example:full_pass)

External discussions

• Belgian forum topic Routing in car free zones inside city centers
• Announcement of draft on tagging forum

Later

To avoid confusion, we can later deprecate permit. (Just like we deprecated landuse=farm in favour of landuse=farmland and landuse=farmyard).

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.