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How should I tag a named bridge that carries a (differently) named road?

For example, in Newcastle there is a bridge across the Tyne called "Swing Bridge" which carries a tertiary road called "Bridge Street".

The current tagging is just:

highway=tertiary
bridge=yes
name=Swing Bridge

which works, but doesn't record the name of the street. The name of the bridge is useful, as that is how locals would give you directions and is probably what should be rendered on the map, but the street name is also potentially useful - especially when searching.

Do we have any established technique for recording both names?

I'm guessing a similar problem exists for other named bridges and there may be worse case (e.g. I could imagine a named bridge that carrys several different named ways)

asked 25 Aug '11, 15:25

GrahamS's gravatar image

GrahamS
3.6k214554
accept rate: 28%


Bridges can be mapped as areas tagged with the widely-supported man_made=bridge tag. By mapping the bridge and the road as separate objects, each object can carry its own name tag. (There is also the option of mapping the bridge as a relation, but this is rarely necessary.)

If the bridge is not (yet) mapped as a separate object, the bridge:name is commonly used on the road to record the name of the bridge it is running across.

(Best practices have evolved a lot in the decade since this question was asked and there are now well-established solutions. This answer was rewritten in 2021 to reflect these changes.)

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answered 25 Aug '11, 18:09

Tordanik's gravatar image

Tordanik
12.0k15106147
accept rate: 35%

edited 01 Jan '21, 17:38

bridge_name seems to be used quite a bit.

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answered 25 Aug '11, 15:43

SomeoneElse's gravatar image

SomeoneElse ♦
36.9k71370866
accept rate: 16%

The newer solution is "man_made=bridge" and "name=*". This can be nicely visualised in Carto map.

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answered 01 Jan '21, 16:10

strongwillow's gravatar image

strongwillow
657813
accept rate: 0%

1

You're right, I've updated the accepted answer accordingly as it was outdated. Upvoted! :)

(01 Jan '21, 17:40) Tordanik

you can create a relation for the bridge, look there: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Relations/Proposed/Bridges_and_Tunnels

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answered 25 Aug '11, 15:53

moszkva%20ter's gravatar image

moszkva ter
2.1k223960
accept rate: 17%

You also have;
alt_name - when alternative name exists (which doesn't fit in one of the tags name above)
loc_name - Locally known as

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answered 25 Aug '11, 23:51

Sundance's gravatar image

Sundance
467511
accept rate: 3%

reverted 25 Aug '11, 23:52

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question asked: 25 Aug '11, 15:25

question was seen: 9,383 times

last updated: 01 Jan '21, 17:40

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