How to tag a historical passage in a narrow cliff

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21

on sections concurrent with waterway: yes (so maybe 26km long, maybe split in parts and shorter but still long sections)

I see that such interpretation is not liked, but is there a better way to represent the situation? surface=water does not seem better to me and seems even less liked by OSM community based on thumbs up/down

highway=aquatic sounds like ship/canoe/kayaking route

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22 
highway=path
flood_prone=only

(Mostly joking, I cannot think of a genuinely good solution that isnā€™t ā€œitā€™s not a pathā€ :laughing:)

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23

I like neither ford=yes nor surface=water since itā€™s neither a crossing nor are the hikers going to walk on water, though I guess if I had to decide Iā€™d pick ford=yes. Something like flooded=yes would fit the best.

1 Like
24

No objection. Alternatives are always welcome as long as we donā€™t misuse ford=yes for a track sharing the same way with a stream.

25

Looking at the photo, I see a stream, not a path of any kind. So how about:

waterway=stream
foot=yes
26

Arenā€™t most streams foot=yes though? foot=yes just means ā€œyou can and may walk hereā€. This particular stream however is a trail that is regularly used by people to reach a destination. So itā€™s a highway-feature.

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27

ā€œlong fordsā€ are a thing, and thatā€™s one of the ways that people map them.

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28

I know long johns, have never heard about long fords ā€¦ :wink:

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29

I prefer a half misuse of ford=yes compared to a misuse of highway=path.
We should at least add the information that the path is informal.

30

Why would we do that? That place is a well known and managed tourist attraction, visited by hundreds of people daily. The trail leading up the gorge to the cave could not be much more formal:

I have checked a couple of those and all of them have in common, that they are used to cross a stream (which is what a ford is made for), even if it is necessary to walk in the streambed for 5 or 10 meters. Nothing comparable to the situation in the OP.

I still think the best way to depict the situation on the ground is to map 2 ways, one for the stream and one for the path. I wouldnā€™t mind if the path gets the additional tag surface=water or flooded=yes. Both tags are in use (507 vs. 49 times) so I canā€™t see a problem in using either.