Types of relation

These types of relation are Relations that we in wide use and others which have been proposed.

Contents 1 Established Relations 2 Proposed uses of relations 2.1 Composition and sectioning of ways and tags 2.2 Junctions, intersections, grade separated crossings, and embankments 2.3 Turn restrictions, and right of way 2.4 Area hierarchies and other relations for areas 2.5 Addressing 2.6 Others 3 Projects 4 References

Established Relations

Type	Comment	Photo
associatedStreet	Items related to a street. See Karlsruhe scheme
boundary	For grouping boundaries and marking enclaves/exclaves
bridge	Groups together all elements of one bridge
destination_sign	Destination signs at or before intersections
enforcement	Traffic enforcement devices; speed cameras, redlight cameras, weight checks, ...
multipolygon	For areas where the outline consists of multiple ways, or that have holes; also used for boundaries
public_transport	Part of the OSM public transport scheme. Mainly used by public_transport=stop_area.
relatedStreet	Widely used but only a synonym for associatedStreet
restriction	Any kind of turn restriction
route	Like bus routes, cycle routes and numbered highways
site	Relation to group elements of a site such as a school together. site=stop_area has been replaced by public_transport=stop_area
street	Relations/Proposed/Street, Relations/Proposed/Collected_Ways and Relations/Proposed/Collected_Ways_Simple are trying to improve associatedStreet
tunnel	Groups together all elements of one tunnel
waterway	Relation to group elements of a waterway=*

Proposed uses of relations

Composition and sectioning of ways and tags

• Relations/Proposed/Composite Tag often used where an attribute is for time or vehicle class restricted
• Relations/Proposed/Segmented Tag is used if a tag or a set of tags shall be applied to a part (segment) of a way
• Relations/Proposed/Collected Ways for grouping ways into complete streets, rivers, railways etc.
• Relations/Proposed/Dual carriageways for grouping adjacent ways forming opposite carriageways of a dual carriageway
• Relations/Proposed/Circuit for marking specific circuits for e.g. motor sports
• Relations/Proposed/Street for grouping ways into complete streets, as well as associating other elements with it
• Relations/Proposed/Curvature for specifying the curve and straight parts of a way
• Relations/Proposed/boundary_segment to group ways into a linear boundary

Junctions, intersections, grade separated crossings, and embankments

• Relations/Proposed/Junctions all the ways that make up a junction (such as a motorway intersection)
• Relations/Proposed/Bridges and Tunnels
• Relations/Proposed/Embankment
• Relations/Proposed/Turn hints Hints for whether a turn is a slight left, sharp left, fork, etc.
• Relations/Proposed/turn lanes which turns are allowed from a given lane

Turn restrictions, and right of way

• Relations/Proposed/Right of way for defining right of way and priority/main roads on junctions
• Proposed_features/Relation:type=stop for defining stop signs more flexibly than Tag:highway=stop

Area hierarchies and other relations for areas

• Relations/Proposed/Region - Represents many hierarchies on the map like districts forming a city, etc
• Relations/Proposed/Level For floors in 3D-Objects (Subway stations, buildings, etc.).
• Relations/Proposed/Is In All the places that make up a bigger place (e.g. all the cities in a country)
• Relations/Proposed/Buildings for buildings where you want to record the outline, entrances, perimeter fence etc
• Relations/Proposed/Site For grouping buildings elements of a site together
• Relations/Proposed/Hint hint for renderers and/or API to support large areas
• Relations/Proposed/Label Manually placed labels or icons in areas
• Relations/Proposed/Country Gathering data about a country
• Relations/Proposed/Associated_Entrance Associating objects with entrances of a building

Addressing

• Karlsruhe Schema
• /Proposed/House numbers (abandoned, use addr )
• Relations/Proposed/Postal Addresses
• Relation:postal code
• Relations/Proposed/Street for grouping ways into complete streets, as well as associating other elements with it

Others

• Relations/Proposed/Lane to provide additional information for a lane of a road (a bus lane, 2+car lane, cycle lane, cycle track etc)
• Relations/Proposed/Area to define areas between ways and lanes (linear crossover), virtual and physical dividers and crossover-possibilities, etc.
• Relations/Proposed/Rivers For wide rivers where both banks are recorded.
• Relations/Proposed/Traffic Lights
• Relations/Proposed/Height Weight Length Restrictions since the restriction relation is focused only on turn restrictions.

(divided highway)

• Relations/Proposed/Campus for university, hospital, campuses, etc. - to group all entities (buildings, paths, etc.)
• Relations/Proposed/Overtaking Describing safer overtaking sections.
• Relations/Proposed/Operators for linking branch offices and other organisational properties to their organisations.
• Relations/Proposed/Network for linking together coherent networks, like road numbering systems, cycle (node) networks
• Relations/Proposed/Sled for grouping together all relevant items of a sled run.
• Relations/Proposed/Surveillance for linking together security cameras and the areas they are able to monitor
• Relations/Proposed/Directional node nodes which point in a certain direction
• Relations/Proposed/Defaults defines a set of default values (speed limits, oneways, access) for a country, a state
• Relations/Proposed/Health for describing complex relationships of health care related areas, buildings, offices, persons and services

Projects

• Low emission zone

References