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Should I replace a general tag with a more descriptive, but obscure, tag?

I have a cycle path in my area that was originally tagged with surface=gravel. Technically, it is not a gravel path, it is a limestone path. The difference is minor, but limestone and gravel are quite different for cycling purposes. (Limestone is generally easier to cycle on). The only issue is, the surface=limestone tag is barely used at all according to taginfo.

Should I replace the widely used, surface:gravel tag with the more accurate, but obscure, surface:limestone tag?

tagging surface

asked 05 Feb '16, 16:47

abpahl
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accept rate: 0%

edited 05 Feb '16, 17:14

aseerel4c26 ♦
32.6k●18●248●554

One Answer:

Well, all of those surface values are somewhat categories, we need to stop somewhere in increasing the detail level of those categories. Otherwise nobody will understand that more detailed value. Is the difference really that big? So, I would stick to the values listed on https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:surface (and the widely used ones – see taginfo).

Instead sub-categories could be used (iterative refinement is often used in tagging). However, I did not yet see something like surface:gravel=limestone or gravel=limestone (depending on which style you want to use). I had a look: on 112 objects in one area in the US gravel=crushed_limestone is used as a refinement of surface=gravel. Maybe from one mapper.

Maybe you want to add other describing tags instead (e.g. smoothness)?

answered 05 Feb '16, 17:14

aseerel4c26 ♦
32.6k●18●248●554
accept rate: 18%

edited 05 Feb '16, 17:46