Pistes

A groomed cross-country skiing piste

This page summarizes the tags describing winter sport pistes in the broad sense, from downhill skiing through cross-country skiing to sleds – and the related infrastructure like lifts. Even though a voting never took place (see e.g. Talk:Piste Maps#Approval), these keys and values have been accepted de facto by the community (see the numbers provided by taginfo) and many are supported by mapping tools like JOSM.

Piste map-specific tags use the piste: namespace to avoid conflicts with similar tags used in other contexts (e.g., capacity, speed, classification). The term piste comes from the French word for track or trail and means a marked path or run down a mountain.

Some mapping efforts are tracked in WikiProject Piste Maps.

Pistes

piste:type=

A piste may be a route through a variety of different terrains. It might run over the existing summer roads or paths, or over meadows and glaciers. Therefore, piste mapping has several levels:

1. Underlying elements: countryside roads and paths, meadows, parts of glacier, etc. These might be defined as ways or areas .
2. Defining piste sections:
   • The underlying elements may be additionally tagged with appropriate piste:*=* tags to describe how they are used for winter sports.
   • A way which is only used in season as a piste may be drawn independently and tagged with a piste:type=* as a top-level tag. It may represent e.g. a centreline of a downhill piste, or an established, groomed cross-country trail.
3. Grouping. Optionally, piste sections may be grouped together by a relation route=piste. Please notice that only ways can be members of a route=* relation. In this way, one piste can consist of multiple elements and one element (road, etc.) can belong to several pistes (relations).

Tags applicable to the piste sections and other elements are described below.

When using areas, it is usually best practice to map pistes with both areas and ways (in analogy with waterway=river being accompanied with a water=river denoting its banks). The way is useful for routing applications, while the area provides further details as to the actual surface occupied by the piste.

When a piste must be represented by a closed way (such as a circular cross-country trail), it is recommended to specify no, to distinguish them from proper areas. An ice-skating polygon may in reality be an ice rink or a frozen pond where skaters can go in any direction (yes), or a circular track similar to an athletics track (no).

Survey of some piste types like Nordic or skitour leave considerable freedom of judgement to the mapper. It is suggested to tag routes recommended by some tourism authority and pistes used by many people during a season. Do not add pistes that are only used by very few people (e.g. only yourself), or that are dangerous (avalanche, etc.). Keep in mind that adding a piste is a recommendation to other people for using it.

Type

The piste:type=* tag can be used on any existing or new way. It is useful for marking a piste that uses existing highways, such as tracks or paths. For example, forestry tracks can be used in winter for hiking, sledding, skitouring and Nordic skiing.

Key	Value	Element	Description	Icon
piste:type	downhill		An alpine/downhill ski route. ways should be use for trails connecting the routes. This automatically implies oneway=yes. The direction of the way should be the downhill direction.
	nordic		A Nordic/cross-country ski trail (see also grooming). The direction of the way should be the preferred/compulsory skiing direction (see piste:oneway below). 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. Rendered as area if first and last point are the same. If a circular way is needed, do not close the way (first and last point is not exactly the same).
	sled		Use this tag exclusively for a sledding piste (toboggan hill), or add it to a highway prepared for or commonly used by sleds to go downhill. Sleds are smaller vehicles that are pulled by a human or propelled only by gravity. Use piste:oneway=yes if the piste has a "do not walk uphill" sign. If the way is used also for ascending to the top (e.g., by foot) use piste:oneway=no. 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.
	hike		A piste for Nordic walking or hiking in winter (Winterwanderweg) that is usually announced by a tourism authority. 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.
	sleigh		A piste exclusively for not self-propelled sleighs. This might be horse/husky-drawn sleighs (Santa Claus style). Definition: A sleigh is typically a partially enclosed vehicle with seats for passengers that is drawn by animals and slides on runners.
	ice_skate		A piste exclusively for ice skating.
	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.
man_made	piste:halfpipe		A halfpipe. This automatically implies oneway=yes.

Frequently, 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 semi-colon separated values on the way (piste:type=downhill;sled), or create several route=piste relations, one for each use.

Difficulty

This tag is seldom used for piste:type=nordic in some countries, including the Nordic countries.

Note: For showing signposting color of pistes (notably for crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing), you may want to use the Tag:route=piste with a key:colour, and keep the difficulty tag to give information on the actual difficulty of the way.

Key	Value	US, Canada, and Oceania	Europe	Japan	Skitour:	Nordic (crosscountry)
piste:difficulty	novice	"Bunny hill"	Green		L: inclination <30 degree, no sliding, soft hilly terrain, no narrow passages	Strictly flat terrain, no effort needed
	easy	● Green circle	Blue (applies to Nordic, downhill, sled)	Green	WS: inclination 30–35 degree, short sliding areas, open terrain with short steep passages and easily avoidable obstacles, short narrow passages.	Soft hills, short steep sections
	intermediate	■ Blue square	Red (applies to Nordic, downhill, sled)	Red	ZS: inclination 35–40 degree, longer sliding areas, terrain with steep passages that cannot be avoided, short narrow but steep passages.	Steep sections are present in the piste, or short narrow on average slopes. User gets away with sweat. Used for the relevant sections only
	advanced	◆ Black diamond	Black (applies to Nordic, downhill, sled)	Black	S: inclination 40–45 degree, long sliding areas with scarps below (life danger!), steep terrain with many obstacles, long narrow passages (short swings still possible).	Steep sections are present in the piste, with narrow steep passages or sharp turns in steep passages, often icy pistes. Used for the relevant sections only.
	expert	◆◆ Double black diamond	Orange (Alps)      Double black (Scandinavia)		SS: inclination 45–50 degree, long sliding areas with scarps below (life danger!), steep rocky terrain with many obstacles, narrow passages may require some crossjumps.	Steep sections are present in the piste, with narrow steep passages or sharp turns in steep passages, often icy pistes. Dangerous terrain surrounds the piste. Used for the relevant sections only.
	freeride	(e.g., off-piste)	Yellow		AS: inclination 50–55 degree, very exposed terrain, no spot to rest during descent, narrow passages require many crossjumps.	Not relevant
	extreme	Climbing equipment required			EX: inclination >55 degree, extremely exposed terrain, need to use ropes to go downhill.	Not relevant

Grooming

The key piste:grooming=* describes the style of piste preparation for piste:type=nordic, piste:type=downhill (classic, mogul, backcountry), or piste:type=sled (classic, backcountry).

A classic groomed piste (piste:grooming=classic) is made of compacted snow and maintained with a snow grooming machine. A piste:grooming=backcountry piste is not maintained and will rely on hikers or snowshoers for compaction.

Key	Value	Description	Pictogram	Suggested rendering
piste:grooming	classic	Groomed for classic style Nordic or downhill skiing. If omitted for sledding runs (piste:type=sled) it implies groomed as "natural luge(sled) track". Default value is assumed if piste:grooming is omitted.	||
	mogul	A piste:type=downhill groomed for Mogul skiing (Buckelpiste).
	skating	Groomed for free style or skating.	\/
	classic;skating classic+skating	Both classic and skating. (Note that classic+skating is not standard OSM notation.)
	scooter	Classic style groomed by a smaller snowmobile, which means that the piste is often much looser and single lane.	!
	backcountry	Off-piste cross-country skiing, often referred to as "backcountry touring", where tracks are made manually by skiers. Use with marked, cleared, ungroomed ski trails. Use with often used, ungroomed sledding trails.	!!

Many providers of ski preparation data draw a line between tracks groomed by snowmobile, and larger snow grooming vehicles that produce cross-country ski-trails conforming to FIS standards (reference needed).

Other features

Key	Value	Element	Description	Suggested endering
piste:name	Name as a piste'		Alternate name for the piste. Use this if the piste runs over a highway which has a different name.	Rendered as name if no name tag exists; rendered by pistemap renderers only if name and piste:name exist.
piste:ref	Number or letter; or a combination.		Number or letter used to identify the piste on ski maps or signs at the ski resort. Avoid using ref=* if the way is also a highway.
piste:status	open/closed	Any piste	Use for pistes if they open for the season and set to closed during summer (this is most useful for single type pistes; e.g., sled). Use for live data feeds to OSM in the future. Do not use tag if data is guaranteed to incurrent (does not receive regular/live updates). There is no default.	Render always normally on general map. Summer sport specific maps may ignore closed pistes. Winter specific may use some special marking. Remember that data is probably only valid for some specific pistes that receive live updates.
piste:oneway	yes/no		The way is oneway only when used as piste during winter.
piste:certifications	List of certifications; text, comma separated.		Pistes that are certified for safety, grooming and quality by a local association. The seal of quality must be published by the association, for example: "TRV Naturrodelbahngütesiegel 2009 ROT". The tag should be not present if no certifications exist.
piste:lit	yes		The way is lit only when used as piste during winter. In contrast, lit=* alone refers to the whole year.
lit	yes		Lit for night time skiing.
roller_ski	designated		The Nordic track is designated for roller skiing during summer. Often combined with highway=track, tracktype=grade1 and surface=asphalt.
piste:abandoned	yes		Former, now unofficial and unmaintained ski-trail.
gladed	yes		Pistes with trees or entire areas of thinned-out trees. See glade skiing.
patrolled	no		Pistes that are not patrolled, though they may be marked and maintained
sport	biathlon		Winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting

If a ski trail is ungroomed due to having no-one to groom it (e.g., a permanently-closed commercial ski area), abandoned=yes may be used. The difference between a backcountry, not groomed and abandoned may seem fuzzy: Important difference is that low vegetation can be expected, and lack of clearing could be due to issues with land owners.

Grooming priority

Ski-trails can be marked with piste:grooming:priority=1-6 to indicate the order in which they will be groomed.

As OSM is not directly suitable for live-ski-trail-condition monitoring, this will allow rendering maps that have a static way of depicting ski-trails that will be more likely to be in the best shape under less fortunate snow conditions. One example of a such map in Norway use different line widths for this.

Start counting from first priority and downwards. Assume the priority is relative within each area.

Key	Value	Description: Expected grooming schedule
piste:grooming:priority	1	Daily, or nearly daily.
	2	Daily if snowing. At least weekly, typically before every weekend.
	3	Semi-weekly. Probably before weekends. Not when less snow, early/late in the season.
	4	Every other week. Maybe three days or more after snow before groomed.
	5	Only when lots of snow, or for events only.
	6	Very rarely groomed

Ski resorts

landuse=winter_sports

site=piste

landuse=winter_sports specifies areas dedicated to skiing or winter sports in general. This mainly includes complete ski resorts, in a few cases a single small area like biathlon shooting range or a single piste is mapped with this tag.

These areas are also tagged with landuse=recreation_ground + sport=skiing or leisure=sports_centre + sport=skiing.

However, a typical ski resort features many long pistes that span a large land area, and is not suitable for mapping with a single area. Alternatively, complete ski resorts with all associated facilities could also be mapped with a relation site=piste.

Ski lifts

aerialway=

For the lift itself, draw a way along the route of the cable, and set the aerialway=* tag on this way. Some lift types imply oneway=yes (drawn upward), while any two-way lift should be tagged oneway=no. Besides this shortened overview, aerialway=* describes the values in more detail and also further values like zip_line that are uncommon for winter sports.

Key	Value	Element	Description	Example	Icon
aerialway	cable_car		A cablecar or tramway. Just one or two large cars. The cable forms a loop, but the cars do not loop around, they just move up and down on their own side.
	gondola		A gondola lift. Many cars go around in a circle on a looped cable.
	chair_lift		A chairlift. Looped cable with a series of single chairs or benches without closed cabins but exposed to the open air or having a bubble protecting only a part of the body. Implies oneway=yes; where passengers can be carried in the reverse direction, tag with oneway=no.
	mixed_lift		A mixed or hybrid lift, containing both gondolas and chairs.
	drag_lift		A surface lift with tow-line, usually around 4 meters overhead of skiers and riders. Better use one of the more specific values t-bar, j-bar or platter if possible.
	t-bar		A T-bar lift with carriers for two persons. Implies oneway=yes and aerialway:occupancy=2.
	j-bar		A J- or L-bar lift, like T-bar but just on one side thus single-person only. Implies oneway=yes and aerialway:occupancy=1.
	platter		Platter lift, similar to a J-bar, but with a disc instead of a bar. Single-person only. Implies oneway=yes and aerialway:occupancy=1. In discussion whether a platter lift is an aerialway or not. Alternate tag piste:lift=platter can be used instead.
	rope_tow		A rope tow with a line that passengers hold by hand or tow grabbers. Implies oneway=yes.
	magic_carpet		A magic carpet. Implies oneway=yes.
	pylon		Supporting tower for an aerialway. May be numbered with ref=*.
	station		For stations where passengers can enter and/or leave the aerialway. May be in the middle of a way (mid), shall be at both ends of the lift's way (top and bottom). Combine with ele=*		●

Railways going up a hill are discussed and proposed separately: railway=incline.

Aerialway attributes

The start and end nodes of a way tagged as a lift are assumed to be a station. These nodes may have their elevation documented with ele=*. Additional information should be tagged on the way (of the lift). Access may also depend on transport type (ski/foot/bicycle/etc.):

Key	Value	Element	Description	Example	Photo
Wired ways
aerialway:occupancy	People in each carriage (car, chair, etc.); numeric.		aerialway=j-bar, platter and rope_tow imply aerialway:occupancy=1 and aerialway=t-bar implies aerialway:occupancy=2.
aerialway:capacity	People per hour; numeric.			aerialway:capacity=2600
aerialway:duration	Minutes; numeric.		Average/typical time for journey on that lift.
aerialway:detachable	yes no		Specifies whether the aerialway has a detachable grip (yes) or a fixed grip (no). Especially significant for chairlifts. By default, aerialway=gondola, chair_lift, and mixed_lift imply yes, while cable_car, t-bar, j-bar, platter, rope_tow, and magic_carpet imply no.
aerialway:bubble	yes no (default)		If each carriage has a (retractable) transparent cover to provide weather protection. Only common for aerialway=chair_lift.
aerialway:heating	yes no (default)		If each carriage has heating.
aerialway:bicycle	yes summer no		If bicycles are allowed in carriages: all year round; in summer, or not at all. By default, aerialway=cable_car, gondola, and mixed_lift imply yes, and chair_lift and t-bar imply no.
oneway	yes no -1		If the aerialway can be used in both directions, or only one.
Stations
aerialway:access	entry exit both no		Main article: conditional restrictions The access allowed to carriages at this node, entry means it is possible to board the lift here, exit means it is possible to disembark, both means both are possible (often the case for aerialway=cable_car and gondola), and no means neither are possible (useful for beginning and ending nodes if the implicit assumption of being an entry or exit station is incorrect). Add :summer or :winter subkeys where seasonal rules apply (often, in winter, only ascending is allowed).
aerialway:summer:access aerialway:winter:access	entry exit both no		The access as above, but only during "summer". Similarly for "winter". Use no in all stations if the aerialway is not operated at all during summer.

This table is a wiki template with a default description in English. Editable here.

Tags to use in combination:

• name=*
• operator=*
• ref=*
• seasonal:summer=yes/no
• seasonal:winter=yes/no
• foot=* - pedestrians allowed?
• website=*
• min_age=*

Other

Snow production plants

• Snow cannon, man_made=snow_cannon, and optionally, snow_cannon (valued, for example, fan or lance)

Routes

• route=ski shall be replaced by route=piste combined with piste:type=nordic
• route=piste (has a wider range of values for piste:type=* consistent with the Piste Maps Proposal)

Rental

• Sled rental, rental=sled or amenity=sled_rental
• Ski rental, rental=ski or amenity=ski_rental
• A shop=ski may also offer ski:rental=* or snowboard:rental=*

Amenities and related sports

• Ski center, building=yes and information=visitor_centre, tourism=information, add shop=ticket and toilets=yes if available
• Ski school, building=yes and amenity=ski_school
• Ticket office, shop=ticket, or modify office=travel_agent proposal for general ticket sale
• Mountain restaurant, amenity=restaurant, and building=yes
• Mountain rescue and ski patrol, emergency=mountain_rescue
• Mountain hut/refuge/lean-to, amenity=shelter
• Bobsleigh track, sport=bobsleigh
• Piste maps/skiing maps, tourism=information and information=map and ski=yes
• Ski playgrounds, leisure=ski_playground
• Avalanche transceiver checkpoint and training zone, amenity=avalanche_transceiver

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