Key:piste:type

The piste:type=* tag indicates the type of a piste, i.e. for what winter sports it is. It may be added to existing ways, such as highway=track or highway=path if they are used for winter sports. It may be used on its own ways if the piste only exists in winter (i.e. does not follow the route of an existing road or trail).

Sometimes a way is used for multiple winter sports, especially for nordic skiing, sledding, winter hiking and skitouring. Such dual-use pistes are either tagged with a semicolon like <empty>, or the ways are added to multiple route=piste relations of different type.

How to map

As a way

In the simplest case, draw the piste with a new way and add piste:type=* and potentially further tags (see below).

If (and only if) the piste follows an existing road or trail, you can add the appropriate highway=* value to the way (or add the piste:type=* tag to the existing highway if it has already been mapped). Note that OpenStreetMap Carto does not render piste ways. Do not add highway=path to pistes just to get them to display on openstreetmap.org; doing so is tagging for the renderer and is considered bad practice.

As an area

If you want to draw the piste as an area , draw the shape as area and add the following:

• area=yes
• piste:type=*
• potentially further tags (see below)

Example at opensnowmap.org

As a relation

If the piste is composed of several existing segments/parts, e.g. used as summer tracks or paths, use a relation . The same applies if different values apply for different uses of the way, e.g. the piste and the underlying forestry track have different names. Create a relation:route with the property route=piste and the segments as members. Place detailed information in the relation tags.

Values

Key	Value	Element	Description	Icon
piste:type	downhill		An alpine/downhill ski route. Ways should be used for trails connecting the routes. This automatically implies oneway=yes. The direction of the way should be the downhill direction. piste:difficulty=* tells the difficulty of the ski run.
	nordic		A Nordic/cross-country ski trail. piste:grooming=* specifies whether it is grouped for classic, skating or both styles. The direction of the way should be the preferred/compulsory skiing direction. Nordic pistes are circular ways if the first and the last point are the same and cannot be rendered as areas.
	skitour		A recommended ski_touring way or area, generally used by many skiers during a season for the purpose of a Nordic ascent and a downhill descent in the backcountry. Generally, a descent is recommended near the ascent route for safety and terrain judgement, and not normally mapped. To map an alternate descent, use piste:type=downhill with piste:grooming=backcountry. Implies piste:grooming=backcountry.
	hike		A route for Nordic walking or hiking in winter (Winterwanderweg), usually announced by a tourist organisation. A classic groomed piste (piste:grooming=classic) can be hiked with simple boots or can be used for running (default if grooming is absent). A piste:grooming=backcountry groomed piste requires snow shoes.
	sled		A downhill sledding piste (toboggan hill). Sleds are smaller vehicles that are pulled by a human or propelled only by gravity. For purpose-built bobsleigh/luge tracks, use leisure=track instead of piste. If the way is used also for ascending to the top (e.g., by foot) use piste:oneway=no, otherwise piste:oneway=yes. The combination with piste:lit=yes indicates sledding tracks with lighting that is only turned on in winter. Implied grooming is piste:grooming=classic for natural luge track grooming, but alternatively one can use piste:grooming=backcountry for ungroomed or badly groomed trails.
	sleigh		A piste exclusively for animal (horse or dog) drawn sleighs. (Santa Claus style). This also includes established dog sled routes in the Arctic.
	ice_skate		A piste or rink (such as a pond) used for ice skating in winter season. For purpose-built ice rinks, often available year-round, use leisure=ice_rink instead of piste.
	snow_park		A funpark with rails, quarter pipes, etc.
	playground		A ski playground is a designated location which has been developed or set up to assist children to learn to ski naturally, and which provides a variety of skiing discoveries.
	ski_jump		A ski jumping hill.
	fatbike		A piste for riding with a fatbike in winter that is usually announced by a tourism authority. Fatbiking is on the rise as a winter sport and very often in mountain biking areas.
	snowkite		Location for launching a kite, or an area suitable for snowkiting.
	snowmobile		An established winter trail for snowmobiles. Use snowmobile=* to describe the type of legal access (e.g. a permit is required).
man_made	piste:halfpipe		A halfpipe. This automatically implies oneway=yes.

Sometimes, ski pistes are used for several practices. For instance, groomed Nordic tracks used as hiking tracks and sledding tracks for skitouring and hiking. There are two ways to map several officially sanctioned uses of a piste: either use semicolon-separated values on the way (piste:type=downhill;sled), or create several route=piste relations, one for each use.

Rendering / Maps

• Winter sports#Maps - a list of maps showing pistes etc.

Common tagging mistakes

piste:type=snowshoe

More details at taginfo

More details at taginfo

• piste:type=snowshoe🔎 ‒ Consider to use piste:type=hike instead. 📈

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!

piste:type=hiking

More details at taginfo

More details at taginfo

• piste:type=hiking🔎 ‒ Consider to use piste:type=hike instead. 📈

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!

See also

• piste:difficulty=* - Used to define the difficulty of a ski run, including downhill, nordic and others.
• piste:grooming=* - Used to define how a piste is prepared.
• surface=artificial - Used with piste:type=* to define an artificial piste.
• man_made=piste:halfpipe - for a halfpipe. Can only be used on . Automatically implies oneway=yes
• aerialway=* - Used for various forms of transport for passengers and goods that use wires, including cable-cars, chair-lifts and drag-lifts.
• Piste Maps - describes in detail the way winter sports are mapped in OSM.