Tag:crossing=marked

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crossing = marked
Description
A generic crossing with no traffic-signals of any type, just road markings. Show/edit corresponding data item.
Group: crossings
Used on these elements
may be used on nodesmay be used on waysshould not be used on areasshould not be used on relations (except multipolygon relations)
Useful combination

When tagged as node:

When tagged as way:

Status: de factoPage for proposal

This tag describes a pedestrian crossing that is marked but not controlled by traffic lights or people.

The type of marking can still be described explicitly with crossing:markings=*.

Another common way to map such crossings is to use crossing=uncontrolled.

A "de facto" alternative to crossing=uncontrolled : crossing=marked

Thecrossing=marked tag has been used for a long time and can still be used so it brings confusion, although it is not in iD presets anymore.

It is currently a "de facto" : the tag is in widespread use, and while it was not approved in a proposal process, it has a widespread acceptance among mappers :

Tag Definition iD field Taginfo statistics
English French
crossing=marked A generic crossing with road markings, but no traffic-signals of any type. Feature Type = Marked Crossing

(does not show in iD presets)

Type = Passage piéton non protégé

(n'apparaît pas dans les préréglages d'iD)

Note that in the below discussion, it is explained that crossing=marked is not used anymore as a preset in iD, and therefore that crossing=uncontrolledis the official tag to use :

-> Should iD be tagging crossing=uncontrolled instead of crossing=marked?#408

Currently, Taginfo shows about 1 650 000 nodes tagged with crossing=marked and a stagnation since 2022.

For comparison, crossing=uncontrolled has about 2 700 000 nodes and its use is growing fast :

Tag Definition iD field Taginfo statistics
English French
crossing=uncontrolled A generic crossing with road markings, but no traffic-signals of any type. Feature Type = Marked Crossing Type = Passage piéton non protégé

So despite the infamous misnomer, crossing=uncontrolled should be used instead of crossing=marked for new changes. Nevertheless, some local communities, especially English-speaking communities, continue to disfavor crossing=uncontrolled for this purpose, because it already referred to uncontrolled crossings (unmarked, unsignalized) long before the tag was redefined to mean a marked crossing, and conflating the two configurations renders the tag meaningless. To resolve this conflict, crossing:markings=* and crossing:signals=* are increasingly used in addition to or instead of crossing=*.

How to map

Set a node node on the highway where the transition is and add highway=crossing + crossing=marked.

If the crossing is also mapped as a way way, tag it as highway=footway footway=crossing crossing=marked or highway=cycleway cycleway=crossing crossing=marked as appropriate.

Tags used in combination

  • tactile_paving=yes/no - Indicates whether a blind or visually impaired pedestrian can detect or follow the feature using a cane
  • crossing:island=yes/no - Specifies whether a pedestrian crossing has a refuge island
  • crossing:markings=* - The existence and style of pedestrian crossing markings
  • crossing_ref=* - Used to reference a specific type of crossing markings
  • crossing_ref=zebra - A zebra crossing
  • bicycle=yes/no - if the crossing is expressly also to be used by cyclists
  • lit=yes/no - Indicates whether a feature is lit.
  • kerb=* - Used to indicate height and thus accessibility of a kerb
  • wheelchair=* - Indicate if a special place can be used with wheelchairs

Software support

Editors

Starting from v2.12.0, released Dec 2018, iD described crossing=zebra as "outdated" and encouraged users to switch to crossing=marked + highway=crossing. This has attracted controversy.

This change was reverted in v2.17.0, released Dec 2019, due to ambiguity issues raised by mappers.[1]

Renderers

OsmAnd draws gray and white stripes along the crossing way and adds a pedestrian pictogram at the crossing node.

Straßenraumkarte Neukölln reserves a parking-free buffer zone around the crossing that is smaller than for crossing=zebra or crossing=traffic_signals. [1]

osm2streets (see AB Street) draws parallel white bars, as opposed to transverse white lines that denote crossing=unmarked.

Routers

OpenSidewalks converts crossing=uncontrolled and crossing=zebra to crossing=marked. [2]

MOTIS Per Pedes Routing indicates whether the crossing is marked [3][4][5] and can calculate a detour that avoids unmarked, unsignalized crossings. [6]

Tagging schemes and tag growth evolution

Graphs of different schemes are shown on the following page link:
📈 https://taghistory.raifer.tech/#***/crossing_ref/zebra&***/crossing%3Amarkings/zebra&***/crossing/zebra&***/crossing/marked&***/crossing/uncontrolled&***/crossing/traffic_signals

The amount of objects increased exponential after implementation of an iD preset end of 2018 via v2.12.[2]

The growth of the amount of objects stopped immediately after implementation an update of iD preset end of 2022 via id-tagging-schema v5.10, see chart above (green line).[3]

See also

References

  1. https://github.com/openstreetmap/iD/blob/release/CHANGELOG.md#2170
  2. Bryan Housel: Switch crossing presets to "marked"/"unmarked", retain "zebra" as unsearchable. Github, 2018-10-02 online
  3. tyrasd: Merge pull request #590 from openstreetmap/crossing_markings . Github, 2022-11-09 online