History of proposals to fix highway=path ambiguity – and a wayforward?

General talk
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I think any attempt to somehow re-define the highway=path tag itself is doomed to fail. Its use is so widespread that you will never manage to eliminate all instances that do not match an intended new definition. highway=path without any other tags will always be the mess it currently is.

There are two main methods to move forward from here:

  1. Define new main highway=* tags for well defined portions of the space that is currently filled by highway=path. These new tags replace the main tag for specific uses. Changing the main tag implies a hard break with existing software support and interpretations by data consumers. This should be considered a feature of this method and should be used intentionally.
  2. Create new subtype tags (e.g. path=*) that are intended to be used with highway=path which further classify the path and provide more precise characterization. This method preserves the current support and interpretation of highway=path by data consumers and provides a gradual path forward (with the risk of [legacy/simple/…] data consumers not parsing these new sub-tags and interpreting highway=path as they currently do).

If we imagine current uses of highway=path placed on a scale from ‘high quality, easy to use’ to ‘rough, not suitable for everyone/requires experience/dangerous’, the first method involving a clean break is well suited for the rougher end of the scale. Current data consumers run the risk of inadvertently leading users onto paths that may not be usable by them or that might be dangerous for them to use if unprepared.
Examples for this are e.g. difficult scrambles on mountains that need considerable experience and are not suitable for normal pedestrians/unprepared hikers, or mountain bike trails that normal cyclists cannot use safely.

On the other end of the scale, we have paths that are perfectly usable by the average person and where there is little/less risk or inconvenience involved if current data consumers lead people onto these paths. The second method of gradually adding classification sub-tags may be more desirable here to preserve existing support.
Examples for this kind of path are e.g. shared foot- and cycleways

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