Proposal talk:Trail
The proposal is OK, but I wonder why it deprecates the other highways. A cycleway still is a dedicated way only for cycle use, most often found in cities. Having an extra highway tag for it keeps tagging and rendering straightforward. --SlowRider 09:59, 13 July 2007 (BST)
I would prefer highway=path, to be consistent with highway=track. Maybe route=trail or route=path could be used for long-distance paths whether they are on paths, tracks or roads. Also a pathtype tag could be proposed (similar to tracktype) 10:46, 13 July 2007 (BST)
In the UK, according to Section 329 of The Highways Act 1980:
- “footpath” means a highway...,
- “bridleway” means a highway..., and
- “cycle track” means a way constituting or comprised in a highway...
they are all highways, and they are all very different from a simple trail with particular rights of access. They are maintained by the appropriate Highway Authority to particular standards depending on which they are, and should be signed appropriately. The current mark-up is both correct and works with the current renders, therefore it does not need fixing. I might support a new tag for non-specified paths, and like Peter James, would prefer highway=path rather than a whole new key, but I will oppose this proposal while it depreciates correct and working usage.
I realise that appeal to UK law on an international project is not a full objection. I put this here to highlight that it is not universally wrong to include these tags in key:highway just because it might feel uncomfortable to some speakers who use a variant of English other than English English! In fact, if non-motor routes are removed from the main key for these things, then English English speakers might expect that tag to be labelled "carriageway", since that is the appropriate collective term for them in England (and other bits of the UK as well!) Socks 17:27, 13 July 2007 (BST)
- Perhaps, when tagging a map, tags should be representative of the way it is rendered and not be representative of a local legal term, so it could be more 'international', each country(including each flavor of english) could then give localized meaning to the tags ...--PhilippeP 12:26, 8 August 2007 (BST)
US vs UK
In the US a trail can be anything from a short overgrwon path, to a full blown gravelled forest track...
Global perspective? ShakespeareFan00 23:18, 22 October 2007 (BST)