Proposal:Surface unification

surface_unification
Proposal status:	Abandoned (inactive)
Proposed by:	phobie
Tagging:	surface:*=*
Applies to:	linear
Definition:	description of road surface and its usability
Statistics:
Rendered as:	various road types
Draft started:
Proposed on:	2008-09-14
RFC start:	2009-05-01
Vote start:	*
Vote end:	*

Proposal

This proposal should improve the current usage of the surface=*-key.
It is needed because surface is currently a mix of fastness and material types.
The fastness should go to surface:paved=* and the materials should go to surface:material=*.
With surface:condition=* we are trying to describe the status of the surface with less subjective values than smoothness=* does.

It should extract the best of Proposed_features/surface_values and Proposed_features/more_surface_values.
If it gets widely used by the community it could later replace things like Proposed_features/Smoothness and Proposed_features/grade1-5.

surface:paved=* and surface:material=* can be filled by values currently used in surface=*.

See the already used keys surface_material and surface_state on tagwatch!

Rationale

• surface=* values are very inaccurate!
• tracktype=* has hard to distinguish values!
• smoothness=* is often misleading and emotional! See Proposed_features/usability!

Examples

To be added

Implies

• highway=*

Useful combination

• incline=*
• width=*
• groundclearance=*

Applies to

• ways (roads)
• areas (places i.e. pedestrian)
• relations (type=route)

Rendering

Renderer should use those surface* keys in favor to the currently used tracktype=*, highway=residential, highway=service and highway=unclassified tags.

Comments

Please use the discussion page for comments.

Tagging

surface:paved

Values for surface:paved=*:

Value	Description	Notes	Photo
yes	was surface=paved	?
no	was surface=unpaved	?
partly	?	?

surface:condition

Values for surface:condition=*:

Value	Description	Notes	Photo
maintained	surface is maintained	Minor defects in asphalt are regularly fixed; dirt roads are graded; grass is cut. Any fallen logs or branches have been removed.
uneven	surface minimally maintained	Potholes are roughly filled in. surface is bumpy or contains minor potholes and other general unevenness. Small branches may have accumulated on or across the road surface.
degraded	surface not maintained	Numerous or major potholes; areas where the road surface has washed away and other major problems with the road. Trees may have fallen across the road surface.
corrugated	corrugations are present	Generally found on dirt roads that haven't been maintained, corrugations are a distinct surface type that slows a vehicle down (and can shake all manner of things loose in a car)
rocky	road base is rock	rocky roads often have substantial unevenness, and can be unsuitable in passenger cars due to clearance. Generally requires careful navigation to drive on.
rutted	road contains ruts	Distinct wheel or washout grooves, and can be unsuitable in passenger cars due to clearance. May require careful navigation to drive on.
deep_rutted	road contains deep ruts	Deeply rutted roads are generally only suitable for high clearance 4WD vehicles. Requires careful navigation to drive on
primitive	road is unformed	Variable surface conditions, not maintained, may not be an actual "road", but more a series of tyre tracks that are used occasionally. Could contain any or all of the above conditions, and subject to change. Very much a navigate at own risk prospect.

surface:material

Values for surface:material=*:

Value	Description	Notes	Photo
asphalt	everything made of bitumen or tar	AKA bitumen, tar, tarmac (tarmacadam), asphalt_concrete, asphalt_cement
concrete	Concrete based roads	Would also allow you to tag reinforced_concrete, giving the tank drivers amongst us some useful routing information.
brick	?	?
cobblestone	Cobblestones and other similar surfaces	?
macadam	?	See wp:Macadam
plank	planks and/or logs	Most commonly in bridges or similar strictures, but also found in some roads where the need to anchor the surface or increase ground force of the vehicle to prevent it from sinking into the ground. Also boardwalks, wooden piers, elevated footways through nature preserves.
dirt	Dirt, small stones	This would be the obvious candidate for transferring surface:paved=no to
sand	Sand, or fine surface dirt	?
grass	Assumes the grass length is still short enough to be navigable
bulldust	very, very fine sand (think talcum powder)	Very different from sand, bulldust can be difficult to drive through, as the vehicle tends to sink into the harder surface 6-12 inches below, without any idea what is below the surface. This is a fairly explicit Australian tag requirement
gravel	?	?
ice	road made only from ice with no underlaying structure	for normal roads with ice on them use surface:iced=yes
plant	gras, grain, flowers	?
soil	generic value for dirt, sand, bulldust, ...	?
rock	?	?
user defined	materials not listed here	?	none

This tag should be used to show dominant material, if it is cracked concrete with grass growing in some of the cracks, than surface:material=concrete.