Key:railway:signal:slope
 railway:signal:slope
|
 |
| Description |
|---|
marker on a railway line indicating the gradient of the line 
|
| Group: railways |
| Used on these elements |
    |
| Requires |
| Status: in use |
| Tools for this tag |
The tag railway:signal:slope=* is used to map gradient markers, i.e signs on railway lines indicating the incline of the tracks.
How to map
Gradient markers are mapped as 
nodes on the railway line according to the general OpenRailwayMap signal tagging scheme described at Tag:railway=signal.
The value of the tag railway:signal:slope=* itself should be a country-specific name of the respective marker. Additional sub-keys are used to desribe the content of the marker, in particular the indicated gradient. See the table below for details.
Country-specific values
- Belgium
- Poland: tram sign AT-3/4 (pl)
- Spain (es)
- United Kingdom
- …
Subkeys
| Subkey | Description |
|---|---|
railway:signal:slope:form
|
The type of the signal. Will usually be a sign.
|
railway:signal:slope:incline
|
The indicated gradient, formatted in line with the general key incline=*, e.g. in percent.
Whether the value is positive or negative is not decided in relation to the OSM way direction, but whether the tracks rise or fall after passing the marker. That is to say: Markers warning of an upcoming ascent will be tagged with a positive Some countries use bidirectional gradient markers which are placed parallel to the tracks and state the gradient for both directions from the marker. In that, case we do not use the
The sign of the value depends in both directions on whether the tracks rise or fall when moving away from the marker. See Example 2. |
railway:signal:slope:distance
|
In some countries, gradient markers also show the length of the track section where the indicated gradient occurs (see Example 1). This length can be stated with this subkey.
(Note that markers of the type "rises by x metres for every y metres travelled" do no mean that they apply for the next y metres. These numbers only state the |
railway:signal:slope:caption
|
The text on the marker as it is written, without normalisation. |
Examples
Example 1
This Swiss marker indicates that the gradient changes here and there will be a downhill gradient of 20 ‰ for the next 345 metres.
railway:signal:slope=CH-FDV:270– official name of the markerrailway:signal:slope:form=signrailway:signal:slope:incline=-20‰– negative, as the tracks will fallrailway:signal:slope:distance=345 m– applies for the next 345 metres
Example 2
Case 2A: OSM way from left to right
→→→ direction of OSM way of the tracks →→→
This British marker indicates that there will be a downhill gradient to the left dropping 1 unit for every 518 units travelled horizontally (gradient of 1/518 = 1.93 ‰), and an uphill gradient to the right rising 1 unit for every 158 units travelled horizontally (gradient of 1/518 = 6.33 ‰).
railway:signal:slope=GB-NR:gradientrailway:signal:slope:form=signrailway:signal:slope:incline:forward=6.33‰– positive, as the tracks will rise after passing the marker in the direction of the OSM wayrailway:signal:slope:incline:backward=-1.93‰– negative, as the tracks will fall after passing the marker when moving opposite the direction of the OSM way
Case 2B: OSM way from right to left
←←← direction of OSM way of the tracks ←←←
The same marker as above with only the direction of the OSM way switched. Note that the forward and backward gradient values switch roles, but each keeps their sign as this only depends on the topography of the tracks, not their representation as an OSM way.
railway:signal:slope=GB-NR:gradientrailway:signal:slope:form=signrailway:signal:slope:incline:forward=-1.93‰– negative, as the tracks will fall after passing the marker in the direction of the OSM wayrailway:signal:slope:incline:backward=6.33‰– positive, as the tracks will rise after passing the marker when moving opposite the direction of the OSM way