Support motorroad=*

[kaneap]

OSM Tag(s)

motorroad=*

How would you like this tag to see supported?

As a Field

Label

Motorized traffic only

Aliases

No response

Terms

No response

Link to OSM Wiki page

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:motorroad

Status of the Tag

De Facto

Usage of the tag

216,658

Replaces other Tag?

No response

Regional Tag?

Yes

Further Information

This tag is used in certain regions to tag a road only for motorized traffic (which isn't a motorway). This is quite common in several European countries (including France, Germany, the Netherlands, amoung others). The access restrictions panel should also show the access restrictions implied by this (no bicycles, pedestrians, horses).

[1ec5]

The access restrictions panel should also show the access restrictions implied by this (no bicycles, pedestrians, horses).

Implied access restrictions are too complex to express in this schema, so the rules for the Allowed Access field are defined in the iD repository.

Note that implied defaults are somewhat controversial in general. In practice, the access restrictions implied by motorroad=yes are quite often tagged explicitly anyways due to poor router and renderer support. Placeholder values based on motorroad=yes will likely dissuade many mappers from adding these explicit tags. But simply adding a checkbox for motorroad=yes – whatever it would be called – would be less likely to have this effect.

The wiki notes that, depending on the country, this key implies various other attributes besides access restrictions, such as maxspeed=* and minspeed=*. This may make it more difficult to fully support the key. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t have many citations to clarify whether there’s causation or just correlation between the sign and some of these attributes.

This tag is used in certain regions to tag a road only for motorized traffic (which isn't a motorway). This is quite common in several European countries (including France, Germany, the Netherlands, amoung others).

In principle, the key is valid anywhere that uses the Vienna Convention and its “rules are the same as a motorway” sign. However, according to the wiki, the key has been coopted in Hong Kong for something unrelated that sounds similar to expressway=yes in the U.S. (#216). (Historically, motorroad has also been used in the U.S., but this is discouraged in favor of expressway=yes.)

[kaneap]

I got the idea for this PR since the access restrictions from vehicle=* now show the implications in the allowed access panel.

Currently, only 15% of ways with motorroad=* have any bicycle=* tag: https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/motorroad#combinations. So at least a large number of mappers don't believe it is neccesary to tag this explicitly. Some (not me) might even consider it incorrect, since there is no "no bicycles" sign, and I've been messaged by some mappers that tagging implicit restrictions is incorrect when I've done it (in Germany). However, in general I agree that this should be tagged explictly (for now, at least for bicycle and foot), but this seems to be an issue that exists somewhat beyond iD.

[Kovoschiz]

@1ec5 I have already removed all motorroad=yes with no legal status in Hong Kong this year. The remaining are provisions to transition Tunnel Area (a specific legal traffic status) away from =motorway (currently flagged with motorway=no. It is not the same as US expressway=yes (aside from the fact "expressway" is the term for motorway here), when that "abuse" covers only fully controlled-access, grade-separated, and uninterrupted main line; no signalized intersections and crosswalks, or limited-access roads, are included in that ad hoc usage. Updated wiki to reflect this.
Ps HK is technically not in Vienna Convention on signs.