Trail parking

whisk3rs · 2012-03-10T19:07:25.000Z

Hi, guys. I have a decent collection of GPS traces from hiking trails, and I am slowly adding them/correcting lower-resolution trails. I am very interested in having a map for which you can select a park, and then find all the possible hiking trails and amenities. With that in mind, I have a question about trail parking lots. Some of the lots are obviously paved and very official, but others, while being a legitimate trail parking area or pull-off, are just a dirt lot for 4-5 cars.

Here’s an example of such a lot: http://binged.it/yfmo9A
It’s the round patch of dirt to the left of the two green trees in the center of the map. It shares a driveway with a nearby farm/house, but it is a legitimate Town Conservation Land lot with a (somewhat inconspicuous) sign near the road. Many people park there to walk their dogs, etc.

What do people think about adding such lots to the database? I wonder if we need to draw a line between lots that are substantial enough to be on the map and ones that aren’t - otherwise they are going to be cluttering the view, no?

I found this thread: http://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=9167 but there was no consensus.

csdf · 2012-03-11T08:28:50.000Z

I think that it’s if officially designated as a parking area, then there’s no problem adding it to OSM, irrespective of whether it’s hard-surfaced or not.

Vclaw · 2012-03-11T13:33:37.000Z

Yes, I’d agree with that - if it is signposted as parking, then it is fine to map it as such.

Also, if possible, you should map the parking as an area, and tag it with the capacity. Then anyone making a map can choose not to show smaller car parks when zoomed out. Which would help avoid cluttering the map.

whisk3rs · 2012-03-18T03:24:56.000Z

Vclaw:

Yes, I’d agree with that - if it is signposted as parking, then it is fine to map it as such.

Also, if possible, you should map the parking as an area, and tag it with the capacity. Then anyone making a map can choose not to show smaller car parks when zoomed out. Which would help avoid cluttering the map.

That’s a good point, I did not realize mapping the lot as an area would tag it with the parking label - the label doesn’t show up in Potlatch. Thanks.