Proposal:Highway crossing cleanup

crossing is marked (e.g. crossing:markings=zebra), not only in examplescrossing is marked (e.g. crossing:markings=zebra), not only in examples

Crossing cleanup and deprecation
Proposal status:	Proposed (under way)
Proposed by:	Riiga
Tagging:	crossing=* Data item
Applies to:	node
Definition:	Approval of crossing:signals=* and deprecation of crossing=*
Statistics:
Draft started:	2022-11-28 (previous draft 2022-11-07)
RFC start:	2022-11-28

Proposal

• Approve crossing:signals=* to tag the presence of signals at a crossing.
• Deprecate crossing=* (except crossing=no) in favour of crossing:signals=* + crossing:markings=*
• Continue to optionally use crossing_ref=* in countries where it serves a function.

Rationale

With the approval of the crossing:markings=* proposal there is now a satisfactory way of tagging whether a crossing is marked or not regardless of the crossing being uncontrolled or having traffic signals. For signals, there is crossing:signals=* which fulfills the same role but has not been approved yet. With both of these approved and in use, there is no need to use the crossing=* key anymore as it superfluous and mixes properties.

Changeover

Some of the most common values can easily be migrated to the new tagging. Below are suggested changes to make when upgrading the tagging. I do not propose any mechanical edits be made, that is up to each local community to decide.

The table below uses only yes/no for crossing:markings=*, but note that the specific appearence of the markings can be specified instead of a yes value.

Access conditions on crossings continue to be tagged as they currently are, such as bicycle=yes.

Old	New	Comment
crossing=marked	crossing:markings=yes	crossing:signals=no cannot be added without verifying the presence of signals due to dubious usage of crossing=marked in certain editors.
crossing=unmarked	crossing:markings=no	crossing:signals=no cannot be added without verifying the presence of signals due to dubious usage of crossing=unmarked in certain editors. In some countries it might be possible to infer crossing:signals=no.
crossing=uncontrolled	crossing:signals=no	Tag could have been misused, so not possible to assume all instances have markings. In some countries it might be possible to infer crossing:markings=yes.
crossing=traffic_signals	crossing:signals=yes	Not possible to assume all signal-controlled crossings have markings. In some countries it may be possible. Each local community will have to decide once migration of tags start.
crossing=zebra	crossing:markings=yes crossing:signals=no (crossing_ref=zebra)	The type of zebra markings may differ depending on country, so no assumption can be made about appearence globally. Only add the crossing_ref=* in countries where it is commonly used.
crossing=no	crossing=no	This will be kept as it serves a function and is not used as a subtag.
crossing=island	crossing:island=*	Already approved. Please migrate to this tagging along with any other needed marking and signal tags.
crossing=toucan crossing=pelican crossing=puffin crossing=pegasus crossing=tiger	crossing_ref=*	Also add the appropriate marking and signal tags.

Examples

Example	Proposed Tagging	Old Tagging
	highway=crossing crossing:signals=no crossing:markings=yes (or optionally specify the exact appearence) crossing:island=no	highway=crossing AND crossing=uncontrolled OR crossing=marked OR crossing=zebra OR crossing=uncontrolled crossing_ref=zebra
	highway=crossing crossing:signals=no crossing:markings=zebra crossing:island=no traffic_calming=table	highway=crossing AND crossing=zebra traffic_calming=table OR crossing=marked traffic_calming=table OR crossing=uncontrolled traffic_calming=table OR crossing=uncontrolled crossing_ref=zebra traffic_calming=table
	highway=crossing crossing:signals=yes crossing:markings=yes (or optionally specify the exact appearence) crossing:island=no bicycle=yes	highway=crossing AND crossing=traffic_signals bicycle=yes crossing_ref=zebra

Features/Pages affected

• Tag:highway=crossing
• Tag:railway=crossing
• Key:crossing
• Key:crossing_ref

External discussions

• Mailing list
• OSM Community

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.