Usage of highway=living_street + service=alley in residential areas

[julcnx]

Hey Russ,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

@Russ_McD

In the 15 years I have been mapping, I was guided by the Global Wiki, that allowed the general use of the alley tag. You seem to have come along of late and decided there is little place for it, and I think that’s wrong. When all streets get a residential tag, routing software will end up picking the shortest route which may be totally inappropriate.

First, let’s address the facts:

1. The Thai wiki guidelines for service=alley align 100% with the global wiki, without deviation. You can review it here.

2. A review of the global service=alley wiki changes since 2010 reveals no mention permitting the general use of the service=alley tag for narrow roads.

In 2013, an exception was introduced for medieval European settlements, focusing on “very narrow streets running between buildings, providing public through-access.” This scenario is specific and irrelevant to urban and rural settlements in Thailand. Further details are available here.

3. Routers recognize lanes=1, and using highway=residential + lanes=1 has been acknowledged as a valid approach for routing. Additional information can be found here.

@Russ_McD

Ok, so to be constructive, allow the alley tag for small Soi’s where it would be difficult for a small car to pass, and impossible for a light truck, then at least we are getting closer to real world.

We can certainly reconsider borderline cases and examine mapping practices for adopting a different tagging approach for roads narrower than, for instance, 3 meters.

@Russ_McD

And I know you are inviting me to help define things, but a 2 mtr wide concrete road with fields either side is probably not an alley, wheras a 3mtr road with lampposts, tight walls, and parked bike, is. Its all about judgement.

However, for the typical residential roads with a width of 3 meters or more, as you described above and approved below in Facebook a few days ago, I doubt you will find many “supporters.”

Anyway, I’ll open it up to the global community to decide on the best approach and will share the results here.