Highway=footway question -- ref tag with block house numbers

lmason_aph · 2019-12-03T16:05:42.000Z

Hello,
I have looked and cannot find my answer …
When using “Highway=footway” tag to map long sidewalks, would it be appropriate to add a ref tag that had that blocks number designation, as in “ref=1700-1750” or a variation of? Or possibly put that information in the crosswalk node? “1700 east-1800 west” ?

Thank you in advance,
Lem M in KY, USA

SK53 · 2019-12-03T16:21:47.000Z

Hi Lem M,

I think that would be fairly unconventional. Probably better to add it in a tag which doesn’t get rendered such as description or note. It looks like fairly useful information so it’s worth adding.

The problem about using it as a ref is that this will show up on maps which can be misleading and it also may get used with voice navigation which could also be an issue. In the UK we have a similar thing with footpaths in the countryside which have identified and we decided to use prow_ref, so if this is commonly desired in the US (and I’ve seen similar in Argentina) you could might use a similar principle.

For the addresses, it’s often best to map these explicitly as addresses. Look at any city in Argentina for the use of interpolation ways to map the range of addresses in one block.

GerdP · 2019-12-03T17:06:18.000Z

The house numbers are mapped in a different way. Maybe you are looking for addr:interpolation ways?
See https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:addr#Tags_for_interpolation_ways

lmason_aph · 2019-12-03T17:16:11.000Z

SK53:

Hi Lem M,

I think that would be fairly unconventional. Probably better to add it in a tag which doesn’t get rendered such as description or note. It looks like fairly useful information so it’s worth adding.

The problem about using it as a ref is that this will show up on maps which can be misleading and it also may get used with voice navigation which could also be an issue. In the UK we have a similar thing with footpaths in the countryside which have identified and we decided to use prow_ref, so if this is commonly desired in the US (and I’ve seen similar in Argentina) you could might use a similar principle.

For the addresses, it’s often best to map these explicitly as addresses. Look at any city in Argentina for the use of interpolation ways to map the range of addresses in one block.

Hello SK53,
I think the Argentina model will work perfectly for me. It seems Public Right of Way is UK only, if I read correctly.
But, Argentina looks like a way to provide the information I wish to provide.
Thank you very much for your help in this matter.

Regards,
Lem M., KY, USA

lmason_aph · 2019-12-03T17:19:47.000Z

GerdP:

The house numbers are mapped in a different way. Maybe you are looking for addr:interpolation ways?
See https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:addr#Tags_for_interpolation_ways

I was going to put theses tags on beginning and ending nodes:
addr:housenumber=
addr:postcode=
addr:street=

And this tags on the ways:
addr:inclusion=actual
addr:interpolation=even/odd

There seems to be a dearth of information on this in my country.

Thank you for your help.
Regards,
Lem M., KY, USA

GerdP · 2019-12-03T17:35:05.000Z

Please don’t put these tags on the footway or on the nodes of the footway. Normally you have a highway and two interpolation ways next to it
with the highway in the middle.

SK53 · 2019-12-03T18:52:19.000Z

Yes, I normally put the two ends of the address interpolation ways on the first & last buildings so these should be parallel to the footway. Ultimately we end up with all the buildings added, each with their own address, but it’s a good idea to go in manageable steps & address interpolation ways are excellent for this.

The sidewalks should also be tagged footway=sidewalk (that way a rendered map can ‘declutter’ by not showing the footways). Again, ultimately they may get chopped up into little pieces depending of how wide they are, what kind of surface they have, wheelchair friendliness etc. (This is another very good reason to avoid mixing tags for different things on the same OSM element: it saves a bundle of work if you decide to change something later.

Best,

Jerry aka SK53

lmason_aph · 2019-12-03T20:20:23.000Z

Thank you! I’m glad I did not get into this project laboring under my misunderstanding.
I didn’t interpret the rendering correctly, possibly due to my style sheet, or just not looking closely enough. Regardless—thank you both for your valuable input into this issue.

Regards,
Lem M.
KY, USA