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Suppose there is a way of a few kilometers length, marked highway=path. I started traveling along it; discovered that it should have better been marked highway=track instead. Since it didn't match my expectations, I retraced my steps back.

What should I have done in this situation?

  1. Fix the tag to highway=track
  2. Split the way up to the point I have visited; fix the tag for that part to highway=track
  3. Don't bother; leave it as it is

I chose (3) at that time. But what is the right choice? Also, whatever I do, should I add a "fixme" tag describing the situation?

Just to make it clear: this way has no intersections; it connects to other ways only at the beginning and end. So if it looks like a "track" at one end, it's probably the same at the other end.

asked 27 Sep '15, 16:56

anatolyg's gravatar image

anatolyg
2015613
accept rate: 0%

3

Just to add a fourth possibility - you've also got the option to ask the original mapper about the "path vs track" question. The easiest way to do this is probably via a comment in the discussion on the original changeset. Obviously it helps to ask a polite question rather than just bluntly say "I think you mapped it wrong", but the only way to find out if there's a valid reason for it being mapped as it is is to ask.

(27 Sep '15, 18:25) SomeoneElse ♦

I would do 2. Perhaps even 1 when the aerial images show evidence that the complete road is a track. 3 is the worst solution IMHO. If everybody would do this, nothing will ever be updated, not ? So please split the way and mark the part you did as track.

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answered 27 Sep '15, 18:04

escada's gravatar image

escada
19.0k16166302
accept rate: 21%

1

I'd probably do (2) as well, and I'd also add a fixme to the remaining part of the way, perhaps explaining what you know - that you surveyed one end of it, and that was a track rather than a path, and that you think the rest of it might be too.

(27 Sep '15, 18:30) SomeoneElse ♦
1

As SomeoneElse, but I might add a note ( http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Notes#Adding_notes ) rather than (or maybe as well as) a fixme, as the notes are generally more visible.

(28 Sep '15, 10:39) EdLoach ♦

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question asked: 27 Sep '15, 16:56

question was seen: 2,125 times

last updated: 28 Sep '15, 10:39

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum