Disentangling cycleway=opposite in London

Wynndale · March 10, 2025, 9:06pm

Recent versions of StreetComplete now ask for cycle lane information on roads tagged cycleway=opposite as well as the ones where it is missing. I am finding that the tag has been used both for cycle signage without lane markings (which StreetComplete changes to oneway:bicycle=no) and for cycle lanes separated by dashes (cycleway:right=lane cycleway:right:lane=advisory cycleway:right:oneway=-1). I am currently looking for the tag with a saved query overpass turbo to survey which is which on the ground.

Andrew_Chadwick · March 11, 2025, 4:15pm

I’m not exactly an Overpass QL wizard, but would it be more efficient limited to {{bbox}}? It’s returning a lot of data. Not sure if using regexes for keys makes it better or worse, however.

/*
 * Find ways with deprecated cycleway*=opposite* tags
 */
[out:json][timeout:60];

// gather results
way[~"^cycleway(:left|:right|:both)?$"~"^opposite"]({{bbox}});

// print results
out geom;

Live: https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/20aD

Andrew_Chadwick · March 11, 2025, 4:34pm

Using this just now, it looks like iD makes some unusual choices during edits:

Rather unexpectedly suggesting cycleway:both=no for cycleway=opposite
Surprisingly choosing cycleway:right=separate for its Standard Bike Lane option (you’d assume =lane, right? Perhaps it’s just if there’s a standard pedestrian sidewalk nearby)

rskedgell · March 11, 2025, 6:06pm

I wish iD would switch off some of these “upgrades” by default, as far too many of these have the effect of saying: “Hey inexperienced user, would you like to make this ‘error’ go away? Don’t worry about what it means, you can just trash the existing tagging and it’ll take ages before anyone notices what you’ve broken.”