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

[julcnx]

Update: I have gathered feedback from regular members of the global community, available at the following link:

What is the recommended tagging approach for routing narrow residential roads?

Our small community seeks input from the global community regarding the recommended tagging practices for narrow residential roads in Thailand. While the local convention involves using highway=residential + lanes=1, there is a divergence of opinion, with some advocating for the use of service=alley. This discrepancy could potentially lead to conflicts and confusion for new mappers. We are also exploring the possibility of adopting a distinct tagging approach especially when the road width fa…

Here are the key findings:

• roughly half of the participants support the tagging approach of highway=residential along with either width=* or lanes=1.
• the other half of the participants favor highway=service + service=alley.

While there isn’t a decisive majority for the highway=residential option, proponents of service=alley have presented valid arguments, citing cultural differences that make it challenging to achieve a global consensus on the matter:

• Naming conventions: “Alleys” is a commonly used term for narrow residential roads in Europe and other countries.
• Front/rear access concept: The concept of front/rear access in housing estates is prevalent in Western countries, as seen in the Radburn design housing concept.
• Medieval cities: Narrow roads are common in European old cities and settlements.
• Lack of Routing support: Only OSMR considers width and lanes for routing (see Routing/Narrow Roads).
• Lack of Rendering support: Most renderers do not consider width or lanes.

Additional research and discussions by @Kovoschiz can be found in the wiki, especially regarding the uncommon use of the tag in Asia or its non-recommendation in Taiwan (Talk:Tag:service=alley).

In conclusion, like many other countries, the Thailand community members will need to vote on a Thailand-specific rule for narrow roads.

Given the absence of a front/rear housing access concept in Thailand, the fact that a “Soi” is “a side street branching off a major street” and the impracticality of “tagging for the renderer,” the only relevant argument in Thailand would be the lack of Routing support.

Also, very narrow roads in Thailand resemble those found in European medieval settlements, which is already an official global wiki use-case.

Once more feedback is consolidated, including input from Grab’s Navigation team, we will propose several options with clear specifics, pros, and cons for community voting.