User:CMoffroad/Minor Road Classifications

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Urban and Local Road wide enough for motor cars

Always check the main wiki pages for a detailed description of the tags and some examples on how to use them along with other useful tags to add to them as well. The below table gives some hints on the tagging to cover the specific situation in Thailand.

OSM tag Description, comments Photo
highway=motorway Expressway (ทางพิเศษ) with full access control.
highway=trunk Not to use.
highway=primary Top-level urban road across the city connecting trunk to trunk, or road of equal or greater importance than the primary intercity highway that runs through that city.
highway=secondary Main urban road connecting primary to primary or higher, or road of equal or greater importance than the secondary intercity highway that runs through that city.
highway=tertiary Roads that are more important than regular unclassified or residential roads, or roads that connect several unclassified or residential roads.
highway=unclassified A significant thru-traffic road used to reach the next settlement or another road of equal or higher importance regardless of its physical conditions.


Situations where other tags should be used:

  • a non-thru-traffic road providing access to residences within a residential area should be tagged as highway=residential.
  • a non-thru-traffic road providing access to a building or place should be tagged as highway=service
highway=residential A road within a residential area that gives the public access to one or multiple residences. Also used for roads within a gated housing estate (add access=private). Residential roads are typically short in length and often named.


Situations where other tags should be used:

  • minor roads outside residential areas used to access objects (buildings, hotels, temples, reservoirs...) should be tagged as highway=service with optionally one of its sub-tag.
highway=service A minor road that gives access to buildings/places outside a residential area such as an estate, religious site, attraction site, or a specific part of a large estate such as an industrial facility or university campus.


Note: highway=service alone or combined with any of its subtags does not imply private access, so access=* tag must be added when access is restricted.


Situations where other tags should be used:

  • minor roads giving access to residences within a residential area should be tagged as highway=residential.
  • minor roads that do not give particular access to any particular places/objects should be tagged as highway=track
highway=service + service=driveway A service road leading to a specific building, residence, property, or place of business. For example, each house's private road that branches off the residential road (add access=private).
highway=service + service=alley A narrow service road usually located between the rear sides of buildings to provide access to utilities such as back gardens, rear entrances, fire exits, and storage areas.


Situations where other tags should be used:

  • narrow residential roads that provide access to the front entrances of residences should be tagged as highway=residential.
  • pathways used by motorcycles but not wide enough for motor cars should be tagged as highway=path.
highway=track A road whose only function is to provide access to the surrounding land (agricultural, forestry purposes). Most of the time unpaved.


Situations where other tags should be used:

  • Roads that provide access to residences within residential areas should be tagged as highway=residential.
  • Roads that provide access to objects/places outside residential areas should be tagged as highway=service with optionally one of its sub-tag.
highway=living_street Not to use. There is currently no legislation in Thailand granting lower speed limits and pedestrians the right of way over other road users in residential areas. Use instead highway=residential.
highway=road A road for which the classification cannot be identified without further ground information.
Others See highway=*

Rough guidelines for minor highway tag decision-making (useful in most cases)

information sign

If you do not have enough information to identify which classification to use, tag the road as highway=road.