Pistes
| Piste Maps | |
|---|---|
| Proposal status: | Proposed (under way) |
| Proposed by: | * |
| Tagging: | various=various |
| Statistics: |
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| RFC start: | 2008-01-04 |
This proposal is for a whole set of tags that are required to describe piste maps. Until now there are few possibilities to map a ski resort. (Few) Information is given here: OpenPisteMap, WikiProject Piste Maps, Key:aerialway. josm for example already supports parts of the proposed features here, like the piste:difficulty or aerialway=station.
Last winter (2005/6) some experiments were performed to record tracks and tag piste maps. This proposal builds on that experience but takes into account the development of additional techniques (such as areas) that have been developed since then.
Tag prefix
Piste map specific tags will use the piste: namespace to avoid potential conflicts with similar tags used in other contexts (eg capacity, speed, classification).
Areas
- landuse=winter_sports
- name=name of resort or ski area (e.g. Espace Killy)
Ski lifts
aerialway
Key:aerialway has already been accepted onto Map Features, but this proposal involves making the following changes to that key:
- Split 'gondola' off as a new value, distinct from 'cable_car'
- Split aerialway=drag_lift into several types of surface lifts, typically used in ski areas. These can be considered aerialways due to the aerial (or partially aerial) cable, even though they don't actually carry people through the air. aerialway=magic_carpet isn't an aerialway at all, but it fits better here than placing it in a new tag. This means, that old aerialway=drag_lifts should be changed. (i.e. deprecation of aerialway=drag_lift)
- additionally add a 'pylon' node value.
- add several attributes which aerialways may have.
The resulting set of values would be as follows:
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Example | Icon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aerialway | cable_car |  |
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. | 
| |
| aerialway | gondola | |
gondola lift. Many cars on a looped cable. | 
| |
| aerialway | chair_lift | |
chairlift. Looped cable with a series of single chairs (typically seating two or four people, but can be more) Exposed to the open air. This implies oneway=yes. Any two-way chairlifts should be tagged oneway=no |  
| |
| aerialway | mixed_lift | |
A mixed lift, containing both gondolas and chairs. | 
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| aerialway | t-bar | |
t-bar lift. This automatically implies oneway=yes. | 
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| aerialway | j-bar | |
a j-bar lift, like t-bar but just on one side. This automatically implies oneway=yes | ||
| aerialway | platter | |
Platter lift, similar to a t-bar, but with a disc instead of a bar. Single-person only. This automatically implies oneway=yes. Not rendered by all renderers due to disscussion wheter a platter lift is an aerialway or not. Alternate tag piste:lift=platter can be used instead. | ||
| aerialway | rope_tow | |
a rope tow. This automatically implies oneway=yes. | ||
| aerialway | magic_carpet | |
magic carpet. This automatically implies oneway=yes. | ||
| aerialway | pylon |  |
Supporting tower for an aerialway. May be numbered with ref=number | ||
| aerialway | station | |
For stations, especially when they are in the middle | ● |
(for completeness: 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 piste:lift are assumed to be a station. These nodes may have their elevation documented with ele=*. If additional information should be given, the way (of the lift) should get a new tag:
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aerialway:occupancy | number of people in each car, chair, etc | |
piste:lift:occupancy=1 implied for platter and piste:lift:occupancy=2 implied for t-bar | |
| aerialway:capacity | number of people per hour | |
piste:lift:capacity=2600 | |
| aerialway:duration | number in minutes | |
average/typical time for journey on lift from one station to the next | |
| aerialway:bubble | yes/no (default) | |
yes if there is a bubble | |
| aerialway:heating | yes/no (default) | |
yes if there is a heating |
Pistes
A piste may be a route through a variety of different terrains. It might be a meadow or a mountain road or part of a glacier. Pistes may be defined as ways or as areas:
Type
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| piste:type | downhill |  |
An alpine/downhill ski route. ways should be use for trails connecting the routes. This automatically implies oneway=yes. | |
| piste:type | nordic | |
A nordic/cross country ski trail (also see #Style or kind of grooming). The direction of the way should be the downhill direction. Nordic pistes are circular ways if the first and the last point are the same and cannot be rendered as areas. Currently implemented in this way by Osmarender. | 
|
| piste:type | skitour | |
A recommended ski tour way or area that is generally used by many skiers during a season for the purpose of a nordic ascent and a downhill descent in the backcountry. Implies piste:grooming=backcountry. Also defined in the wikipedia Ski touring. 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). |
|
| piste:type | sled | |
Use this tag exclusvely for a sledding piste or add this tag to a way or tack that is 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. This automatically implies oneway=yes. If the way is used also for ascending to the top (e.g. by foot) use oneway=no. The combination with lit=yes is the only way to indicate sledding ways with lighting. Implied grooming is piste:grooming=classic, but alternatively one can use piste:grooming=backcountry for ungroomed sledding trails. | 
|
| piste:type | 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. | |
| piste:type | ice_skate | |
A piste exclusively for ice skating. | |
| piste:type | snow_park | |
a funpark with rails, quarter pipes, etc | |
| man_made | piste:halfpipe | |
a halfpipe. This automatically implies oneway=yes | 
|
Difficulty
| Key | Value | US/Canada/Oceania | Europe | Japan | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| piste:difficulty | novice | "bunny hill" | green | ||
| piste:difficulty | easy | green circle | blue | green | |
| piste:difficulty | intermediate | blue square | red | red | |
| piste:difficulty | advanced | black diamond | black | black | |
| piste:difficulty | expert | double black diamond | orange (Alps), double-black (Scandinavia) | ||
| piste:difficulty | freeride | (e.g. off-piste) | yellow |
Grooming
Intended for use with piste:type=nordic or piste:type=downhill (classic, mogul, backcountry) to describe the style of piste preparation.
| Key | Value | Comment | Pictogram | Suggested rendering |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| piste:grooming | classic | Groomed for classic style nordic or downhill skiing Default value; assumed if piste:grooming is omitted. |
|| | 
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| piste:grooming | mogul | A piste:type=downhill groomed for Mogul skiing (Buckelpiste) | \/ | 
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| piste:grooming | skating | Groomed for free style or skating | \/ |
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| piste:grooming | classic;skating | Both of the above | |/ | 
|
| piste:grooming | scooter | Classic style groomed by a smaller snowmobile, which means that the piste is often much looser and single lane. |
|! | 
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| piste:grooming | backcountry | Off-piste cross-country skiing, where tracks are made manually by skiers. Use only with marked and cleared, but ungroomed ski trails. |
!! | 
|
Many providers of ski preparation data draw a line between tracks groomed by wikipedia:snowmobile, and larger wikipedia:snow grooming vehicles that produce cross-country ski-trails conforming to FIS standards (reference needed).
Other Features
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Pictogram | Suggested rendering (nordic) | Suggested rendering (downhill) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lit | yes | |
Lit for night time skiing. | -o- |  |
semi-transparent yellow underneath? |
| abandoned | yes | |
Former, now unofficial and unmaintained ski-trail | : |  |
dashed version of current? |
| gladed | yes | |
Pistes with trees or entire areas of thinned-out trees | ^ | n/a? | tree icons? |
| patrolled | no | |
Pistes that are not patrolled, though they may be marked and maintained | NP | letters NP | letters NP |
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 condition and priority
Ski-trails can be marked with piste:grooming:priority=1-3 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.
Other
Amenities and Related Sports
- ski school (building=yes, amenity=ski_school)
- ticket office (shop=ticket)
- mountain restaurant (amenity=restaurant, building=yes)
- mountain rescue and ski patrol (amenity=mountain_rescue)
- mountain hut/refuge (amenity=shelter)
- bobsled track (sport=bobsled)
- Hot pools (sport=swimming)
- piste maps/skiing maps (tourism=information, information=pistemap)
Voting (not open yet)