User:Hanska/Sidewalk
Proposal for sidewalk tagging
Mapping as a separate way
When the sidewalk is on its own, i.e. is a structure separated from the main street, it should be mapped separately as highway=footway.
Rationale for this is: with the ever-growing precision of GPS units, and the need of particular users when routing (e.g. blind people), a more precise mapping is needed when possible. In particular, for blind people, it's important to have precise information when walking: to understand on which side of the street they are, for example. This is not possible when just adding tags to the main way (see below) -- a separate way ought to be mapped.
Main tags
These tags must be used:
When a highway=crossing is present on the street, a way should be mapped, connecting the two sidewalks. This way should be tagged as follows:
Additionally, if the crossing is also for bicycles, cycleway=crossing should be added.
When no crossing is marked, but it's common to cross the street at that point, crossing=unmarked should be used at the intersection between the sidewalk and the street. Most of the times this should be used on minor, low-traffic roads.
If, before the footway=crossing, there are ramps going down/up, please mark them as nodes and ramp=yes (the other values for ramp=* don't have much sense or added value when dealing with sidewalks).
Additional subtags
- barrier=*
- bicycle=*
- height=* / est_height=*
- incline=*
- smoothness=*
- surface=*
- tactile_paving=*
- wheelchair=*
- width=* / est_width=*
Relation
The highway=footway should be included in a type=street relation (see proposal) together with the main street, with role sidewalk.
Tagging the main way (DEPRECATED)
When the sidewalk is just a painted lane on the street, it's possible to attach tags to the main way.
Main tags
This tag is compulsory:
- sidewalk=side, where side is one of (depending on the direction of the way): left, right, both.
Additional tags
| Tag | Applies to | Description |
|---|---|---|
| sidewalk:side:barrier=* | 
|
Describes whether the sidewalk is physically segregated from the street, and how. Not every value described in barrier=* is suitable. Accepted values are: hedge, fence, wall, bollard, block, chain. As you can see, this is a subset of barrier=*: if you need one of the others, you'd better tag the sidewalk as a separate way. |
| sidewalk:side:barrier=* | 
|
When tagged as a node, this tag means something a barrier transversal to the sidewalk, rather than alongside the street. Every value described as a node barrier in barrier=* is suitable. |
| sidewalk:side:incline=* |
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| sidewalk:side:smoothness=* |
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| sidewalk:side:tactile_paving=* |
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| sidewalk:side:wheelchair=* |
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| sidewalk:side:width=* sidewalk:side:est_width=* |
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Width / Estimated width of the sidewalk lane. |