Very true. When this one bullet point is pulled out of context from the other two, the statement is incorrect. This was not the meaning I intended and I should have chosen my words more carefully. Of course this access tag alone doesn’t make a way a path. It just says that the way is designated for pedestrians. In this case, highway=cycleway already specifies that the way is a bicycle path so the way being a type of path is already established. foot=designated just adds that it is also for pedestrians, making it a shared use path. I’ve edited the post to be clearer.
I agree that in transportation planning terms the word sidepath is at least as specific as the word sidewalk (borrowing the links you posted earlier). In that context it clearly means a paved shared use path for pedestrians and bicycles[1] that is wider than a sidewalk and along the side of a road. I don’t know if this specific meaning implying types of usage, surface, and width is widely understood or if it is industry jargon, possibly limited to North America.
Most of the dictionaries I checked didn’t have an entry for sidepath. Collins defines it very broadly as “a minor path”. Oxford defines it a bit more specifically as “A path at or to the side; esp. one alongside or leading off a main thoroughfare”. In contrast, every dictionary I checked had an entry for sidewalk and defined it as “a usually paved walk for pedestrians at the side of a street” or similar. It seems to me that in common language sidewalk is more specific and sidepath has a broader meaning.
So I don’t agree that sidepath is a better word to use in this corner of OSM tagging. It’s a fine word, but its broad plain language meaning makes it prone to scope expansion over time when used as an OSM tag. cycleway=sidepath is better than is_sidepath=yes in this regard because the extra word “cycleway” makes it more specific and less prone to people using it in all sorts of different ways like they do with highway=path. Anyway, I consider these wide paved shared use paths on the side of the road to be sidewalks in the plain language meaning of the word. And no I am not using the word sidewalk as a simile or a metaphor. I consider them to be special sidewalks that are also bike paths, shared use paths, or any of one of the various other terms for this type of thing. I’ve tagged some not only with footway=sidewalk but also with cycleway=sidepath. I think I will do more of this to emphasize their multi-purpose character.
Also strollers, wheelchairs, rollerblades, and similar rolling devices ↩︎