Draft:Foundation/Local Chapters/United States/Pedestrian Working Group/Schema
 | This schema document is still under active construction - consider other Wiki pages to be more authoritative in cases of conflicting information! |
This is a work-in-progress draft of a full tagging schema for pedestrian infrastructure mapping developed by the Pedestrian Working Group.
A work-in-progress draft of a quick-start guide for pedestrian infrastructure mapping is available here.
Tiers
A tier-based system is used to communicate which features and tags are possible with various resources and necessary for which use cases, as follows, with further details below:
| Icon | Name | Description | Use Cases | Required Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Silver | Basic geometry and essential tags | Basic everyday pedestrian navigation | Low-quality aerial imagery |
 |
Gold | Detailed geometry and tagging | Accessibility-focused applications | High-quality aerial imagery or low-quality street-level imagery |
 |
Diamond | Micromapping and advanced tagging | Advanced routers and visualizations | High-quality street-level imagery or in-person survey |
If, for example, you want to map pedestrian infrastructure so that it can be used for basic everyday routing and only have low-quality aerial imagery available, you would include only the features and tags marked with a Silver Tier symbol.
If you have access to high-quality imagery and want to map pedestrian infrastructure so that it can be used by accessibility-focused routers, you would include all features and tags marked with a Silver Tier symbol or a Gold Tier symbol.
Silver
Description: Basic geometry and essential tags are present to form an independent navigable pedestrian network consisting of sidewalks and crossings.
Implementation:
- Sidewalks and crossings are mapped as separate ways.
- Sidewalk presence tags on roadways are updated to use separate or no where applicable.
- Any existing properties of the sidewalks which were previously mapped on the roadway, such as sidewalk:left:surface=concrete, should be moved from the roadway to the sidewalks.
- Essential information about crossings is tagged.
Gold
Description: Detailed geometry and tagging is present to enable accessibility-focused applications and basic visualizations.
Implementation:
- Sidewalk geometry at intersections is well-represented with ways added where necessary between curbs and sidewalk centerlines
- Detailed information about features is tagged.
Diamond
Description: Micromapping and highly detailed tagging is present, which enables router customization for various types of mobility-impaired users and for detailed representation of the environment for institutional use.
Implementation:
- area:highway=footway - area representations of pedestrian features are mapped.
- Note: Requires fallback representation of paths of travel as ways at centerlines!
- Highly detailed tags may be present to enable use cases outside of routing for everyday users, such as informing policy-making decisions
- Small features, such as call buttons and pedestrian signal lights may be mapped separately.
Bronze
Description: Roadway-based sidewalk tags and crossing points are present to enable basic pedestrian navigation.
Implementation:
- Accurate sidewalk presence tags on roadways
- sidewalk:left=* | sidewalk:right=* | sidewalk:both=* = yes | no
- no is particularly important because it helps mappers and data consumers understand where it has been confirmed that sidewalks are not present
- sidewalk:left=* | sidewalk:right=* | sidewalk:both=* = yes | no
- highway=crossing nodes where crossings exist, even if footway=crossing are not mapped separately.
We recommend against adding detailed sidewalk metadata tagging to roadways (such as sidewalk:left:surface=concrete).
This information should instead be added as tags on separately-mapped footway=sidewalk ways.
Mapping Guidelines
Tagging Guidelines
Sidewalks
Sidewalk Way Tagging:
Crossings
Crossing Node and Way Tagging:
crossing:markings=* - Specify presence and type of markings
- crossing:markings=no - No markings
- crossing:markings=yes - Markings present, type unspecified
crossing:markings=zebra - Zebra markings- crossing:markings=lines - Lines markings
- crossing:markings=* - Any other applicable value
- crossing:signals=* - Specify presence and type of signalization
- crossing:signals=no - No signals
- crossing:signals=yes - Signals present, type unspecified
- crossing:signals=shared - Vehicle traffic lights only
- crossing:signals=dedicated - Dedicated pedestrian traffic signals
button_operated=* - Presence of push button for crossing
- traffic_signals:arrow=* - Presence of tactile arrow
- traffic_signals:vibration=* - Presence of vibration signals
- traffic_signals:floor_vibration=* - Presence of surface vibration signals
- traffic_signals:minimap=* - Presence of tactile minimap
- traffic_signals:sound=* - Presence of acoustic signals
- traffic_signals:sound=no - No acoustic signals
- traffic_signals:sound=yes - Acoustic signals present
- traffic_signals:sound=locate - Acoustic signals present for finding button only
- traffic_signals:sound=walk - Acoustic signals present for walk permission only
- crossing:island=* - Presence of pedestrian island
- Crossing Way Tagging Only:
- highway=crossing - Indicate crossing location
- tactile_paving=* - Specify tactile paving presence along crossing way
- tactile_paving=yes - Tactile paving is present along the entire way
- tactile_paving=no - Tactile paving is not present along the entire way
- Crossing Node Tagging Only:
- highway=footway + footway=crossing - Indicate crossing location
- tactile_paving=* - Specify tactile paving presence at curb nodes
- tactile_paving=yes - Tactile paving is present at both curbs
- tactile_paving=partial - Tactile paving is present at only one curb
- tactile_paving=no - Tactile paving is not present at either curb
Curbs
- Curb Node Tagging:
- tactile_paving=* - Specify tactile paving presence
- tactile_paving=yes - Tactile paving is present
- tactile_paving=no - Tactile paving is not present
- tactile_paving:colour=* - Specify color of tactile paving
- tactile_paving:colour=yellow - Yellow tactile paving
- tactile_paving:colour=* - Any other applicable value
- height=* - Specify curb height
Islands
- Traffic Island Way Tagging:
- highway=footway + footway=traffic_island - Indicate traffic island location
Access Aisles
- Access Aisle Way Tagging:
- highway=footway + footway=access_aisle - Indicate access aisle location
- access_aisle:markings=* - Specify presence and type of markings
- access_aisle:markings=no - No markings
- access_aisle:markings=yes - Markings present, type unspecified
- access_aisle:markings=zebra - Zebra markings
- access_aisle:markings=ladder:skewed - Skewed ladder markings
- access_aisle:markings=* - Any other applicable value
- surface=* - Access aisle surface material
- lit=* - Lighting presence
- width=* - Access aisle width
- incline=* - Incline along way
- incline:across=* - Incline across way
Roadways
- Roadway Way Tagging:
highway=* - Indicate roadway location
- sidewalk:left=* / sidewalk:right=* / sidewalk:both=*
- sidewalk:*=yes - Associated sidewalk is present
- sidewalk:*=no - No associated sidewalk present
- sidewalk:*=separate - Associated sidewalk is present and mapped as separate geometry