India:Tags/Highway
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This page details out the tagging scheme of the road network in India. India has over 3 million kilometers of roads making it the worlds third largest road network. The tagging scheme detailed here provides consistent tagging guidelines for all existing levels of the road hierarchy on both a national scale and a local scale.
The scheme is aimed at preserving the traffic hierarchy of Indian roads and for describing the network for much more advanced routing capabilities.
Contents |
Road classification and tagging scheme for India (proposal)
See Tagging samples for examples of usage.
Major Roads
The following major roads forms the primary national road network. All sections have a unique identifier which is published on road markers and signages on the route.
| Official Class | Id ref=* | OSM tag | Description | Tagging guidelines | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Expressways | NE | highway=motorway | Completely access controlled tolled highways designed for high speed road travel. |  | |
| National Express Highways | NH | highway=trunk | Partially access controlled and tolled upgraded national highways designed for high speed road travel. Projects falling under the National Highway Development Project. | trunk roads with motorroad=yes have multiple lanes of traffic in each direction, separated by a central barrier with grade-separated junctions and access restricted. e.g. Allahabad Bypass Road |  |
| National Express Highways | NH | highway=trunk | Partially access controlled and tolled upgraded national highways designed for high speed road travel. Projects falling under the National Highway Development Project. | trunk roads with motorroad=no have multiple lanes of traffic in each direction, separated by a central barrier, but with normal crossings. e.G. NH2, NH4, NH6, NH8 |  |
| National Highways | NH | highway=trunk | Highways which have heavy traffic intensity and connect different State capitals, Major Ports, large industrial areas and tourist centres | See WikiProject_India/National_Highway_Network for route relations. For identifier tag ref=NH4. For new numbering scheme use 'N' instead of 'NH' with ref:new key ref:new=N 44 to avoid confusion with old designations. | |
| State Express Highways | SH | highway=primary | State highways that have been upgraded to dual carriageways with improved road geometry and road safety features. Tolled and partially access controlled state highways. | State roads with motorroad=yes have multiple lanes of traffic in each direction, separated by a central barrier with grade-separated junctions | |
| State Highways | SH | highway=primary | Highways which link district headquarters, important towns and the National Highways in the State and neighbouring States. | ||
| Major District Roads | MDR | highway=secondary | Highways that connect production and marketing centres and these centres in turn are connected with the National Highways and State Highways. | ||
| Other District Roads | ODR | highway=tertiary | The Other District Roads connect Agricultural production centres and marketing centres with Taluk headquarters and other mportant roads nearby. |
Urban Roads
The following roads forms the road network in urban areas like cities and towns. Sections of these roads carrying very high density are usually oneway (oneway=yes) and intersections are restricted by having a parallel highway=service road to collect local traffic. Major intersections are usually grade seperated or are regulated using highway=traffic_signals. For all practical purpose the roads in an urban area can be considered as those roads that are enclosed within designated ring roads or bypass roads.
| Class | OSM tag | Description | Tagging guidelines | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expressway | highway=motorway | High speed signal-free arterial roads which are either completely elevated or has grade separated intersections. | ||
| Arterial Roads | highway=trunk | Extensions of National Highways into the city centre. These corridors usually carry the bulk of commuting traffic to and from the city and from one end to the other, like ring roads. | The National Highway ref=NH tag should not be used within cities and should ideally terminate at the ring road/bypass or follow them around the city |  |
| Primary Collector or Sub-arterial Roads | highway=primary | Road corridors that carries a huge volume of traffic between arterial roads and has a high density of public bus transport services. |  | |
| Secondary Collector Roads | highway=secondary | Collector roads that carry lower volume of traffic and has a lower public bus transport service. | ||
| Main Roads and feeder roads | highway=tertiary | Main roads that collects local traffic from residential areas onto bigger roads. These roads also acts as shortcuts and is used by non local traffic. There is no regular bus services on these roads. |
Local Roads
The following roads cater to local traffic movement over short distances and feed traffic into bigger roads. Speed is usually restricted due to narrow widths, high number of intersections or by traffic calming devices like traffic_calming=bump. Access restrictions can be indicated by using the access=* tag.
| Class | OSM tag | Description | Tagging guidelines | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown or unverified road | highway=road | Roads traced from satellite imagery and who's classification has not been determined. This is a temporary tag indicating further ground survey work is required. | ||
| Unclassified road | highway=unclassified | Default local roads that has no particular classification | ||
| Residential road | highway=residential | General residential roads in a planned locality. Wide enough to carry two-way slow moving residential traffic. Usually has cars parked by the side and footpaths for pedestrians | ||
| Living street | highway=living_street | Narrow residential roads in older parts of the city or congested areas. Usually has houses constructed continuously without spacing and no footpaths on the sides. Not wide enough to carry two way car traffic smoothly. | ||
| Pedestrian | highway=pedestrian | Roads that are almost exclusively used by pedestrians and are out of bounds of motor vehicles in normal conditions like plazas and internal roads of universities. | ||
| Unpaved motorable tracks | highway=track
+tracktype=* |
Dirt or gravel tracks or 'kuchha' roads mostly found in rural areas. Usually used by jeeps, tractors or other forms of non motorized transport such as bullock carts and cycles. |
Pedestrian Paths
These roads are meant for pedestrians and cannot be used by motorized transport. Use bicycle=yes and access=* to specify restrictions.
| Class | OSM tag | Description | Tagging guidelines | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Footpaths | highway=footway | Paved paths designated for pedestrian use like footpaths. Also can be used for narrow 'gullys' which cannot be accesed by vehicles. | ||
| Unofficial paths | highway=path | 'Kuccha' tracks or dirt paths that are frequently used by pedestrians or cyclists. Also used for mountain trails and trekking paths alongwith sac_scale=* |
