Proposal talk:Surface=laterite

Opinions

• Personally, I’m not from an area where this type of road surface is found. But it’s clear that this type of road surface does exist, and quite frequently at that. In my opinion, adding this signage poses no conflict. HaPe-CZ (talk) 14:37, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
• Ooooh, I recognize this material from Rainbolt GeoGuesser clips. It's definitely distinct enough to classify, and the "impassable when freshly wet" characteristic that software could feasibly use makes it firmly appropriate for clear OSM tagging. Campbelltree (talk) 05:46, 7 May 2026 (UTC)
• I welcome this proposal Pantufla (talk) 22:05, 19 May 2026 (UTC)
• I frequently encounter this kind of road here in Indonesia. It is called tanah merah (literally meaning “red soil”). It becomes very dusty when dry and highly impassable when wet (You can’t even walk through tanah merah during the rainy season because it sticks to your sandals. Locals here call this phenomenon "bélok"). The OSM Wiki photo used for surface=dirt is definitely not tanah merah (however, that kind of dark brown-blackish dirt can also frequently be found in Indonesia, although tanah merah is still quite different.) (For example, this dark brown-blackish dirt is not nearly as dusty as tanah merah when dry.) I strongly support this tag proposal. Rtnf (talk) 08:51, 20 May 2026 (UTC)

  Thanks for the Indonesia confirmation, tanah merah is already in the scope section so it lines up well. The "bélok" detail is new: is that a term specifically used for the adhesion-to-footwear/vehicles effect (what happens when the road has just gotten wet), and how common is it? Getting a sense of how widely it's used would help decide whether it belongs in the Science subpage's regional vocabulary list. Photos very welcome if you have them. julcnx (talk) 10:10, 20 May 2026 (UTC)

• A nice proposal. In French Guyana, it's very common on minor roads and paths. Indeed more precise than ground or dirt. When added to the SC quest, shouldn't be available for every country, or at least raise a warning. Babouche Verte (talk) 15:26, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

  Thank you! On StreetComplete: geographic filtering is SC's own implementation concern, not something the proposal controls directly.

  When I reach out to SC post-approval, I'll also suggest surfacing the local name percountry (murram, din daeng, rahnrahn, tany mena, and others from the Science subpage). julcnx (talk) 15:45, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

• A very well researched and well written proposal. All my questions have been answered. I support this. LateNightTone (talk) 07:07, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

Voting open

Thank you to everyone who contributed feedback during the RfC. Voting is open from 2026-06-02 00:00 through 2026-06-15 23:59 (UTC). Cast your vote on the proposal page. julcnx (talk) 01:00, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this talk page. The proposal was approved on 2026-06-15. The tag page is at Tag:surface=laterite. julcnx (talk) 03:19, 16 June 2026 (UTC)