Use of Highway=Path

Re. use of Paths - see this thread: http://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?pid=572499#p572499

Basically, when it says ‘non-motor’ in the Wiki for Path, this means no cars (or any 2 track vehicle) - motorbike use is OK. (Tracks have to be wide enough for 2 track vehicles - if narrower then use Path.) For the few paths that either are restricted or unsuitable for motorcycles then Footway, Cycleway, Bridleway tags can be used to suit.

I don’t think either Track or Path should be routable for motor vehicles - unless ‘offroad 4WD’ or ‘dirt bike’ options can be selected somehow.

The choice to make tracks or paths routable is something that map developers (or people who make their own maps) can control. You can use a “routable code” in your Garmin style for highway=track if you wish. Garmin maps allow for something like 20 routable codes, each of which can be applied to a way. The Garmin routing algo uses those to compute routes. If you don’t want routable tracks, use a “non-routable” line and code combination. Garmins will still display those but won’t use them when computing a route. You may want to use a routable code for tracks only under certain circumstances, a compacted surface for example. This can be done within the style file by designing directives that work conditionally.

An important issue to keep in mind: one person’s track is another person’s unpaved residential way. Such a track might be perfectly useful to get from point A to point B but if you make all tracks unroutable, Gamin won’t use them. There’s all sorts of discussions and threads in various fora about the uses of highway=track but no agreement has ever been reached so the problem persists.

As you begin to design and create your own maps, try to keep the OSM principle of “don’t map for the renderer” in mind (a GPS unit is one type of renderer). It’s not good practice to intentionally tag things in such a way that they’ll show up on your GPS.