Talk:Frontage road

frontage_road=* is not being used for the same purpose as side_road=*, even though both are named similarly in English. The former tag is for frontage roads, while the latter is confusingly for frontage lanes. If there is a desire to rationalize these keys, there should be a discussion about it and an effort to retag existing ways. One or both keys is currently being used by routing engines to avoid frontage lanes while not avoiding frontage roads. See also the discussion at [1]. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 20:08, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

It would be nice to not revert a complete change (which, in this case, contained also improvements to the used image and links) without discussion if you want to change just one aspect. 😉 Sommerluk (talk) 08:10, 23 March 2023 (UTC)

I've reverted your commit, but added manually added again the remark about side roads that you had restored. I think, however, if this text will stay on the wiki page, there should be a clear description what's the difference between frontage lane and frontage road. And this shouldn't be a specific description of the situation in Texas or the US. OSM has world-wide coverage, after all. Sommerluk (talk) 08:18, 23 March 2023 (UTC)

@Sommerluk: Sorry for catching you off-guard. Your earlier version had confused some other mappers, as seen in the forum thread above and in Slack. I agree that the tagging guidance should not be specific to Texas or the U.S. However, it is true that, historically, frontage_road=yes originated in Texas, while Key:side_road originated in Russia and Belarus. Both phenomena commonly occur in the U.S., and the distinction matters greatly to routers. However, frontage roads are common in one part of the U.S., while frontage lanes are common in other parts. American mappers who were unaware of both phenomena have frequently rewritten Key:side_road without first comprehending its contents. Changing the definition of these tags is bound to cause confusion, because these tags are both widespread in the database and also being relied upon by routers. At first, your edits appeared to me to be similarly misinformed, but I'm glad that it was just a misunderstanding on my part. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 18:26, 25 March 2023 (UTC)

I want to note that the term "frontage road" has once been used by FHWA to label separated frontage lanes/roadway on arterial road / with signalized intersection https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/14057/images/image006.png https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/14057/001.cfm
"Frontage lanes" may also refer to the number of "frontage road" lanes.
"Roads" and "lanes" are often used interchangeably. Cf "collector-distrubutor roads" and "collector-distrubutor lanes".
--- Kovposch (talk) 10:21, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

But it seems side_road=double is closely related to frontage_road=* ? Kovposch (talk) 11:29, 28 June 2023 (UTC)