User:Ralleon/NarrowRoads

This page documents the conventions for defining very narrow roads in some Asian countries commonly called Eskinita (or sometimes called "Kalyehon / Callejon") in the Philippines.

The purpose of defining Eskinita as little different from the usual definition of service alley in OSM, is for practical route prioritizations in general navigation in populated areas on both urban and rural environment; mainly to get human drivers and navigation apps to de-prioritize these roads for general routing from point A to point B. This is not just to improve navigation time, but primarily to keep drivers and people on two-wheels from unnecessarily getting stuck up in very narrow roads and path; where it will require not just extra driving skills, but people skills to justify/explain your presence there. This is to map it in advance using local knowledge, and/or any derived information based on context of street-level images captured on the ground, to tag those technically navigable narrow roads/alleys (or highways) but with a higher degree of driving difficulty or requires prior knowledge of what to expect to pass through.

Note: we also differentiate Eskinita from another commonly used local term Pasilyo/Pasillo, where the latter only refers to the footway or passageway in the network of footways, corridors and shortcuts inside or under the buildings.

The terms "Eskinita" in the Philippines can refer to any narrow corner side-street or alley coming from a wider-road perspective.

On casual conversations, referring to Eskinita gives immediate impression that is a narrow one-lane road just right for small/medium passenger car, typically without sidewalks or easements and with very little wiggle-room for drivers. Eg. if a vehicle stops (and unload something), everybody from behind or on opposite direction stops.

Typical Asian passenger car or lower-end SUV or Van has a total car-width (between tips of side-mirrors) is approximately: For reference/comparison:

 Small SUV (Mitsubishi Expander with quick auto-fold side-mirrors) = 2.12m (roughly 7-feet) 
 Old Asian van (Mitsubishi Spacegear with manual folding side-mirror) = 2.00m  

The cut-off number for mappers and drivers seem to be 4-meters, which is barely passable for 2 way traffic, without folding

As a guide, for purpose of definition by measurement, a Eskinita can be practically be only as wide as 4 meters wide, typically and approximately the rounded-off numbers of 3 meters (oneway with slight wiggle room) or 2.5 meters with barely any wiggle room, but rarely 4 meters. Even a substandard 4.5 meter wide narrow road is typically not considered an eskinita. By observing informal neighborhood practices, any unplanned, old or matured roads wider than 4.5 meters can already be a two-way regular street.

Backstreet or back-alleys for use as service or utility roads. Generally narrow side streets which that have minimum passable widths for motorcars yet usually blocked by people or movable objects that make them barely passable, slightly different from the western definition of pedestrian road or living_streets. Typically, Eskinitas or Kalyehons are locally called as such, because they are connected to a wider corner roads that leads out of the community. There area "back-streets" in Central Business Districts (eg. Legaspi Village in Makati) which are nearly as wide as the streets assigned for frontages of the building, but for use as utility roads and access to parking driveways, and does not have good sidewalks compared to their frontage road.

Wider foot alleys with fixed width, wide enough for bicycles or motorcycles to pass-through slowly without dismounting. These foot alleys can be unnamed, or named but with locally assigned suffixes as: Street, Alley, Interior.

As much as practically possible, the conventions for mapping narrower roads should match not have a conflict with the existing global definitions, given there is no common legal definition of Street and Alleys in the Philippines.

Eskinita differs in car/motorcycle/bike navigation functions where they are located based on surrounding roads in its vicinity:

1. Eskinita (or shortcut alleys) found inside exclusive gated-community where 'no-parking rules' are strictly enforced, with barely any vehicle traffic, then these narrow road may have the following tags:

      highway=service | service=alley
      width=4 | lanes=1 
      oneway=alternating

- where 2 medium size car on opposite directions can barely fit passing each other without folding the sidemirrors.
- where it is more practical/polite for opposite vehicle to wait/yield to the 'first-to-enter' vehicle on this narrow no-blind-spot alley
- where this narrow alleys only have walls or fences and have no frontage doors/gates (no reason for car to stop)
- where there are no sidewalks nor kerbs (thus max speed is lesser than the residential roads  

2. Typical low to middle class gated community, where Eskinita (or short or dead-end 1-lane or 2-lane narrow side-streets) ends up as personal garages or common spaces among residents

- regardless if eskinitas are private or have long been donated to LGU
- where the dead end service alley width=2.5 to 4 meters, with lots that have no provisions for car parks
- where the presence of road obstructions (residents' parked cars & motorcycles, low tents, movable plant boxes, or social activities) are based on mutual tolerance.
- obviously designed by the road designed as service alley (for immediate residents).

      highway=service | service=alley
      width=3  
      access=destination 

3. Typical low to informal community "public roads", where Eskinitas are actually residential roads in function, but being very narrow compared to surrounding collector roads

- where road is technically motorcar=yes, because of minimum width and no declared road closure nor restrictive signs.
- where Eskinita's length can be long, but is not a dead end, 
- where the length or shape of eskinita creates blind spots, where it is impossible to predict any on-coming opposite vehicles,
- where it becomes a game-of-chance if the opposite-direction drivers fail to yield or simply clueless of his/her ability to maneuver vehicles to fit 4-meter wide alley mid-way.
- where it was previously surveyed or via local knowledge, confirmed with the sustained presence of day-time obstructions such as extended 'shades' or movable tents by stores, lightweight chairs or weekend street-washing of clothes etc.  
- where, unless it is absolutely necessary to pass through this neighborhood's narrow road (eg. unplanned road closure of other roads, or delivery of goods midway on this narrow road): 
   a. the human map user should be given an intuitive visually clues of narrow alleys as rendered on most common apps or printed map by making it narrower than a common residential road in the area
   b. that other than visual, the machine navigator, should have high time-penalty if it still chooses this route. 
      
      highway=service | service=alley    
      width=3 | oneway=alternating
      access=destination

      highway=residential
      lanes=1 | oneway=no
      width=4 | motorcar=yes
      access=destination

4. Typical informal "public 2-meter foot alleys", where Eskinitas with are too narrow for motorized mounted navigations.

- regular motorcar is impossible to pass through (motorcar=no), 
- where 2 meter wide eskinta is fairly unobstructed and can allow semi-dismounted (foot-on-ground) bicycle or motorcycle navigation at walking pace.
- where the snaking 2-meter wide alleys can split into further alleys that leads to frontages of unrelated residents (with individual house numbers)
- where tricycle or tuktuk can still pass through to a mid-way destination
      highway=service | service=alley    
      width=2 | oneway=alternating  <---- width, oneway, destination tags are heavy penalty even for motorcycle and auto_rickshaw pass through
      access=destination
      motorcar=no 
      motorcycle=yes 
      auto_rickshaw=yes