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What's the difference between

  • landuse=grass
  • surface=grass

On a traffic island? Which should I use?

asked 29 Aug '22, 17:26

Evan%20Carroll's gravatar image

Evan Carroll
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accept rate: 0%


I prefer surface=grass and the traffic island is part of the land reserved (i.e. used for) a highway.

Actually, I much prefer landcover=grass but the landcover tagging has not gained much traction and I am not aware of a major map rendering site or app that recognized landcover tags.

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answered 29 Aug '22, 22:33

n76's gravatar image

n76
10.8k1082172
accept rate: 17%

Technically they are all different tags.

landuse=grass mostly exists because of the easily unpleasing semantics of natural=, and lacking support of landcover=. There were no other top-level feature in the past. Problem is it is inside a landuse=highway in this case, and the rest are inside other landuse= (including landuse=railway).

surface= alone is not valid syntax. It is an attribute describing a feature, usually highway= and leisure=pitch, also natural=beach. landcover= would be more orthodox on its own.

There has been area:highway=traffic_island + surface=grass for a long time (a decade). That's what should be used.

(A deeper issue is a "traffic island" is not the same as a median / central reservation, if that's what you are looking for. The definition is less distinctive on short sections, or at junctions. In any case, don't use traffic_calming=island if it's not traffic-calming.)

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answered 30 Aug '22, 08:16

Kovoschiz's gravatar image

Kovoschiz
2.4k31147
accept rate: 16%

edited 30 Aug '22, 08:19

I ues "traffic island" in iD. It makes all of them traffic_calming=island. That sounds like a bug then (you should file it).

(30 Aug '22, 19:08) Evan Carroll

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question asked: 29 Aug '22, 17:26

question was seen: 922 times

last updated: 30 Aug '22, 19:08

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