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

There are two methods of doing a pathway/sidewalk. Mark the building on top of it layer=1. Or, break the sidewalk/pathway and for the sidewalk/pathway under it mark covered=yes. Which one is preferable?

asked 11 Sep '22, 17:20

Evan%20Carroll's gravatar image

Evan Carroll
43141517
accept rate: 0%

edited 11 Sep '22, 17:24


I think the way to think about this is how people might consume the data.

A hiking or pedestrian routing app is unlikely to pull down details of all the buildings and then try & work out which paths are covered or obstructed by buildings (it's not unusual for buildings to obstruct paths on OSM even through in reality they don't). Splitting the path and adding covered=yes (or tunnel=building_passage if something more substantial than a roof canopy) is much more likely to be picked up by data consumers.

You still need to map the building appropriately (because other consumers will be more interested in that aspect of OSM): take a looks at whether people typically add layer tags to building=roof or building=car_port.

Making implicit information explicit through adding more tags is rarely a bad thing (sometimes it can be an impediment if the tagging needs to change), and is probably a longstanding trend on OSM.

permanent link

answered 11 Sep '22, 21:03

SK53's gravatar image

SK53 ♦
28.1k48268433
accept rate: 22%

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

  • *italic* or _italic_
  • **bold** or __bold__
  • link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
  • image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
  • numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
  • to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
  • basic HTML tags are also supported

Question tags:

×13
×3

question asked: 11 Sep '22, 17:20

question was seen: 778 times

last updated: 11 Sep '22, 21:03

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