I always assumed that the different types of ways in OSM should get connected, for purposes of navigation at least. For instance, a park asked 28 Aug '16, 17:20  mtc edited 28 Aug '16, 17:46 |
2 Answers:
Yes the sidewalks should connect to the streets, or if there is a separate way for the sidewalk, to the sidewalk (which will eventually connect to the street network). The people leaving them unconnected may be planning on coming back later and adding a separate way for the sidewalk, but a more likely explanation is that they don't realize that OSM based routing software tends to rely on the ways being connected. answered 28 Aug '16, 18:16  maxerickson |
There is now a nice suggestion, that link from sidewalk to a road should be highway=footway + footway=link - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/Tag:footway%3Dlink answered 26 Jan '20, 22:07  MiroJanosik |
When i map a footpath that ends at a playing field or carpark i usually connect the path to either the main road or the carpark lanes. I also usually map the path around the edge of playing field, which is the usual route you would take, or the right of way, if there is one. This should allow routing to work correctley. Routing can be checked with OSRM or another routing engine, there are a few on the osm map page. Note: routing needs few days before changes are used.
@maxerickson I also notice people will draw a path/footway where it actually exists and (quite logically) not add the extra piece which connects it to the centreline of a highway. Of course this often looks fine on CartoCSS as the highways are usually depicted wider than they really are, but obviously breaks routing.