Tag:highway=path
 highway = path
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| Description |
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A generic or multi-use path open to non-motorized traffic. 
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| Rendering in OSM Carto |
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| Group: Highways |
| Used on these elements |
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| Implies |
| Useful combination |
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| See also |
Status: approved
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| Tools for this tag |
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highway=path is a generic path, either multi-use or unspecified usage, open to all non-motorized vehicles and not intended for motorized vehicles unless tagged so separately. The path may have any type of surface.
This includes walking and hiking trails, bike trails and paths, horse and stock trails, mountain bike trails, paved ways used both by cyclists and pedestrians as well as combinations of the above.
Also included are other modes of transportation like local and regional trail infrastructure not appropriate for motor-vehicles in more remote areas of the world.
This tag is used for paths for which all and any of highway=footway, highway=cycleway and highway=bridleway would be inappropriate or inadequate (or simply not sufficient), but which are nonetheless usable for travel or navigation. They might be not intended for any particular use, or intended for several different uses. Intended uses can be indicated with the various access keys; e.g., bicycle=designated and foot=designated. Check the description about the inadvisability of using the tag access=designated.
For urban paths which are designated primarily for pedestrians (potentially with bicycle=yes), it's better to use highway=footway.
If a path is wide enough for 4-wheel-vehicles (wider than 2 m), and it is not legally signposted or otherwise only allowed for pedestrians, cyclists or horseriders, it is often better tagged as a highway=track or highway=service.
- For the mapping of public rights of way in the UK (specifically England and Wales), see UK public rights of way.
Tagging
| Key | Value | Comment |
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| access | * | Access values are used to describe the legal access for highway=*. |
| surface | * | Surface values provide additional information about the physical surface of roads/footpaths. Because there is no consensus on the exact differences between highway=footway, and highway=path, the use of the surface=* tag is recommended to disambiguate with highway=footway. |
| sac_scale | hiking mountain_hiking demanding_mountain_hiking alpine_hiking demanding_alpine_hiking difficult_alpine_hiking |
A difficulty rating scheme for hiking trails. |
| mtb:scale | 0–6 | A difficulty rating scheme for mountain-biking. |
| trail_visibility | excellent good intermediate bad horrible no |
This key describes attributes regarding trail visibility and orientation. |
| incline | 0–100% up down |
For marking a way's incline (or steepness/slope). |
| width | Length, numeric | Describes the actual width of a way. The default unit is metres. |
| informal | yes/no | Distinguish purposely built paths from informal ones. |
| operator | * | The name of the organization that maintains the path. |
| symbol | * | Describes the symbol that is used to mark the way along the route |
Usage as a universal tag
Integrated in JOSM:
| Example | Mapping | Description | CyclOSM |
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highway=path |
Signposted foot and bicycle path. | 
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+ smoothness=excellent/ good/intermediate |
with a smooth surface | 
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highway=path |
Signposted foot and bicycle path with dividing line. | 
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+ smoothness=excellent/ good/intermediate |
with a smooth surface | 
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highway=path |
Signposted foot and bicycle path with additional permission of motorised bicycles (mofas). | |
.JPG)
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A generic multi-use path open to non-motorized vehicles, implicitly allowed for pedestrians, cyclists, …, see OSM tags for routing/Access-Restrictions | 
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,_StVO_1992.svg)
Examples
- See also: Path examples and Highway tagging samples
A path for bicycles and horses could be tagged as:
A UK bridleway could be tagged as:
A generic path in a remote area without legal access restrictions:
- highway=path
- motor_vehicle=yes - default is no so must override it with yes
Example rendering
| OSM Carto | OSMAnd |
|---|---|
 Red dotted lines |
 Black dashed lines |
A highway=path with any of the tags horse=designated, bicycle=designated, foot=designated may be rendered equally to a bridleway, a cycleway or a footway, depending on the map.
Data consumers
This tag is complicated and hard to interpret for data consumers[1][2][3][4].
Popular request is to always include surface=* to allow distinguishing at least unpaved forest paths from cycleway with an asphalt surface[5].
StreetComplete is a specialized editor, that among other tasks finds path where surface=* is missing.
See also
- highway=track - for roads for agricultural use, gravel roads in the forest etc.
- Path controversy gives explanation how this is different/similar from highway=footway and other types of ways.
- area:highway=path - for marking, in addition also exact shape/area of a path
- Hiking
- Approved features/Path - the original proposal from 2007
- A list of theories people have as to why this tag was introduced at https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-au/2019-October/013031.html
References
- ↑ "Right now I am consuming data for a cycling router and highway=path is the bane of my life."
- ↑ "Horridly complex tag, everyone uses it differently."
- ↑ Just as an example, from a data-consumer POV, here's my current rules for rendering highway=path (...) I have seen highway=path used to mean anything from something that is not even visible on the ground, to something that is impossible to distinguish from a small road (...) Map renderer's frustration, I suppose... https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tagging/2020-May/052747.html
- ↑ New road style for the Default map style - highway=path is evil (search for "highway=path, highway=footway problems")
- ↑ For the love of God, if you must use highway=path, please, please, please, please add a surface tag with a commonly-used value.
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