Key:tracktype
 tracktype
|
 |
| Description |
|---|
Provides a classification of tracks. 
|
| Group: highways |
| Used on these elements |
    |
| Requires |
|
| Useful combination |
|
Status: de facto
|
| Tools for this tag |
The tracktype key provides a simple classification of tracks and other unpaved ways. Aspects considered include surface firmness, how much a track or road has been improved relative to the surrounding ground, and how well maintained it is.
This tag usually applies to highway=track but is sometimes used for non-tracks too, especially in less-developed places where many main roads are unpaved. This use is an extension not present in the original proposal.
Background
The proposal from which this key originates may be found at Proposal:Grade1-5. The proposal was voted on, but it did not meet approval criteria and was standardised primarily because of its widespread use.
The scheme was originally influenced by typical agricultural tracks in the United Kingdom.
Relationship with other tags
surface=*refers to surface material and sometimes to material structure. It may suggest a track type sometimes, but because the same surface material/structure can exhibit various degrees of firmness, it is still advisable to addtracktype=*. On the other hand, when uncertain abouttracktype=*, accuratesurface=*tagging can be very valuable and often more verifiable.surface:middle=*can be used to specify the surface material between the tracks.smoothness=*in addition provides a classification scheme regarding the physical usability of a way for wheeled vehicles, covering the physical effect of features such as cracks, potholes, exposed rocks and ruts. It assesses the best passable part of the cross-section.mtb:scale=*provides a classification of technical difficulty and suitability for mountain biking, covering loose surfaces, obstacles such as roots and rocks, gradient and required riding skill.sac_scale=*provides a classification of hiking trail and leisure walking difficulty, covering terrain, walking conditions and required skills.horse_scale=*provides a classification of trail difficulty for horse riding, covering surface conditions, obstacles, width, and structural hazards such as bridges.width=*describes the physical width of a way and can be useful for tracks that are too narrow for their primary userstrail_visibility=*describes trail visibility and required skills to follow a path, and has occasionally been used for tracks that have become fainter due to overgrown vegetation.
Notes and regional interpretation
tracktype=* involves a degree of subjectivity, and some of its aspects remain unclear or are interpreted differently by mappers. The following notes summarize commonly discussed points and open questions:
- The introduction refers to maintenance, but the article does not define which maintenance characteristics influence the grading.
- Applying the grades in other regions with different soils, climate, or road construction practices may lead to different interpretation.
- The relationship between
tracktype=*andsmoothness=*is sometimes interpreted differently in practice.
Criteria
Time of survey
The assessment of tracktype=* may be subject to variable conditions due to recent weather, which may also be seasonal. There is no single agreed recommendation about when to survey, and mappers may interpret tracktype=* as representing either typical or worst conditions (observed or inferred).
There has been interest in representing seasonal variation, particularly for a wet season or conditions following heavy rain. tracktype:conditional=* has been proposed to represent such variation but is still rare.
Firmness
Firmness describes how much the surface deforms under load. It is influenced by construction, maintenance and the properties of the local soil type, and is sometimes discussed in terms of load-bearing capacity or soil texture.
Direct assessment may be difficult for some mappers. Practical indicators include observing deformation under traffic, looseness of surface particles, and whether the surface maintains firmness when wet. Different users (pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers) may assess firmness differently. That said, grade1 (solid) and grade5 (soft) are usually clearly anchored.
StreetComplete and presets in iD and JOSM describe the grades primarily in terms of surface firmness.
Construction
Construction (or development, or improvement) is most apparent in the case of paved tracks. Dirt roads and tracks are often built simply by depositing soil excavated from nearby, without adding imported material or using more costly techniques. Better unpaved tracks are built by importing material (often gravel). The best unpaved ways involve the use of a road roller and, in areas that experience periods of heavy or continuous rain, features such as a camber (crown), drains, and embankments. Note that these features may also be present on tracks with a degraded or non-compacted surface.
These characteristics clearly anchor grade1 (paved), grade2 (unpaved, imported material), and grade5 (unimproved), but their role in distinguishing grade3 and grade4 is less clear. In arid areas, structures designed to manage rainwater are often absent. Mappers in these regions may instead rely on other characteristics, such as firmness; some also consider smoothness=*, as features such as ruts, potholes, erosion gullies, and subsidence may reflect firmness, construction and maintenance frequency and may influence both tags.
Maintenance
While maintenance has been mentioned for a long time, it has never been clearly defined. Different mappers have occasionally pointed to different repair operations, for example, raking, grading, pothole repair, compaction (of non-gravel unpaved roads), and adding a new layer of gravel (with compaction performed as part of the work or left to be done by traffic).
The frequency of maintenance is not directly observable. Tracks often degrade over time, for example, from compacted (grade2) to looser surfaces (grade3 and below) with decreasing firmness, and then improve again following maintenance. Some mappers may be able to infer how much time has passed since the last maintenance by observing cues of surface degradation, but only multiple surveys can establish the frequency of maintenance. For most mappers, a single survey under apparently typical conditions is the practical standard.
Vegetation
The presence, type, and distribution of vegetation are sometimes used as indirect indicators of traffic volume and maintenance. For example, vegetation growing in wheel tracks or between them may suggest infrequent use or infrequent maintenance. There is no consensus on whether features such as a grassy center strip should distinguish between grade2 and grade3. This approach is not applicable in arid regions with little seasonal vegetation growth.
In some cases, such as surface=concrete:lanes, vegetation between lanes (wheel tracks) is common and generally not considered to affect tagging as grade1.
How to map
tracktype=* is primarily used in combination with highway=track (around 96% of uses) but it has also noticeable usage on highway=service, highway=path, highway=unclassified. This tag is useful to provide info about road quality, especially for unpaved roads.
Values
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Rendering | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tracktype | grade1 | 
|
Solid[1]. Usually a paved surface (called also  Sealed road), often also tagged with surface=asphalt;concrete;chipseal;paved etc.
|
 |
.jpg) |
| tracktype | grade2 |
|
Mostly solid. Usually an unpaved track with surface of gravel mixed with a varying amount of sand, silt, and clay. See Gravel road on Wikipedia. May be applicable to heavily degraded and crumbled roads which were paved in past. Often also tagged with surface=gravel;compacted;fine_gravel etc.
|
 |
 |
| tracktype | grade3 |
|
Even mixture of hard and soft materials. An unpaved track. |
 |
 |
| tracktype | grade4 |
|
Mostly soft. An unpaved track prominently with soil/sand/grass, but with some hard or compacted materials mixed in. |
 |
 |
| tracktype | grade5 |
|
Soft. An unimproved track lacking hard materials, uncompacted, with surface of soil/sand/grass. |
 |
 |
| tracktype | <no value> |
|
If no tracktype tag is present, the track is rendered with a dot-dash line style (as shown right). |  |
This table is a wiki template with a default description in English. Editable here.
Rendering
tracktype=* is rendered on the Standard tile layer on the main OpenStreetMap site, as an elaboration on just highway=track.
Additional set of example pictures, from initial proposal
External discussions
The meaning and interpretation of this tag was discussed at length in 2025 and 2026.
- 2025-12-09 - [Forum - Help] Confused with tracktype usage
- 2026-01-06 - [Forum - Tagging] Poll: how do you use tracktype?
- 2026-01-25 - [Forum - Tagging] Tracktype as a measure of surface firmness
- 2026-02-06 - [Forum - Tagging] It’s complicated! (trackype again)
- 2026-02-27 - [Forum - General] Poll(hopefully better): Tracktype never dies!