Key:designation - OpenStreetMap Wiki
Key:designation
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Key:designation
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designation
Description
The legal classification of an object, usually used on
highway
features.
Group:
properties
Used on these
elements
Documented values:
10
Useful combination
highway
=*
access
=*
See also
access
designated
Status:
de facto
designation
More details at tag
info
Tools for this tag
taginfo
AD
AT
BE
BR
BY
CH
CN
CZ
DE
DK
FI
FR
GB
GR
HU
IE (N+S)
IN
IR
IT
LI
LU
JP
KP
KR
NL
NO
PL
PT
RU
ES
AR
MX
CO
BO
CL
EC
PY
PE
UY
VE
TW
UA
US
VN
overpass-turbo
QLever
Postpass via overpass-turbo
OSM Tag History
The key
designation
=*
is used to record the legal classification of an object.
This key is most often used to classify the legal designation of a
highway
=*
object. Combining
highway
=*
and
access tagging
provides a worldwide approximation of how one is permitted to use a path or a road in law, but it can be helpful to specify the exact local classification too.
Contents
Values per country
1.1
Australia
1.1.1
Path classification
1.2
Belgium
1.2.1
Municipalities and cities
1.3
Luxembourg
1.3.1
Municipalities and cities
1.4
Netherlands
1.4.1
Administrative divisions
1.5
Philippines
1.5.1
Road Classifications
1.5.2
Administrative Entities
1.6
United Kingdom
1.6.1
Public Rights of Way in England and Wales
1.6.1.1
Unmaintained Public Highways
1.6.1.2
Permissive Paths
1.6.1.3
Commons
1.6.2
Core paths in Scotland
1.6.3
UK Protected Areas
1.6.4
Civil parishes
1.6.5
Communities
1.6.6
Quiet lanes
1.7
United States
1.7.1
Road classifications
When not to use
Status and use
See also
Values per country
Because legal definitions vary from country to country, so do the values of this key, hence the values are presented separately for each country.
Australia
Path classification
designation
shared_path
is used to map shared paths in combination with the usual
access
=*
tags.
designation
shared_zone
is used to map shared zones.
highway
living_street
is often used, however, for other shared zones such as driveways or parking isles, it is usually mapped as
highway
service
in combination with this designation tag.
designation
local_traffic_area
is used to map streets which are signposted as "Local Traffic Area". Usually applies to selected
highway
residential
roads.
Belgium
Municipalities and cities
In Belgium, some of the municipalities are legally assigned the
status of city
. The following tags are added to the administrative boundaries of such cities:
designation
stad
(Dutch-speaking region)
designation
ville
(French-speaking region)
designation
ville - stad
(bilingual region of Brussels-Capital)
designation
Stadt
(German-speaking region)
Other municipalities which are not cities instead get the following tags:
designation
gemeente
(Dutch-speaking region)
designation
commune
(French-speaking region)
designation
commune - gemeente
(bilingual region of Brussels-Capital)
designation
Gemeinde
(German-speaking region)
Luxembourg
Municipalities and cities
In Luxembourg, some of the municipalities are legally assigned the
status of city
. Like in Belgium, the tag
designation
ville
is added to the administrative boundaries of such cities.
Netherlands
Administrative divisions
Main article:
NL:Bestuurlijke indeling van Nederland
Various
designation
=*
tags are used on administrative divisions to specify their legal classification, e.g.:
designation
deel van Nederland
designation
landsdeel
designation
veiligheidsregio
designation
arrondissement
designation
ressort
designation
waterschap
designation
Caribisch openbaar lichaam
Philippines
Road Classifications
The following tags are used to record the legal classification of public roads in the Philippines.
designation
expressway
designation
national_primary_road
designation
national_secondary_road
designation
national_tertiary_road
designation
provincial_road
designation
city_road
designation
municipal_road
designation
barangay_road
Administrative Entities
Previously
designation
=*
was also used to record the legal category of administrative entities in the Philippines.
This usage is now considered deprecated and
admin_type:PH
=*
is recommended instead.
United Kingdom
The majority of uses of this key (80.5% as of May 2021) are found in the United Kingdom, predominantly to tag
public rights of way
in England and Wales.
Public Rights of Way in England and Wales
Main article:
Access provisions in the United Kingdom
The four types of public rights of way (PRoW) are given below. The
designation
public_right_of_way
tag is used by some mappers when the PRoW type is unknown.
LOADING TAG LIST...
(If you do not see this tag list, you need to enable JavaScript)
This table is auto-generated. See
Template:Taglist
for a documentation on it.
Unmaintained Public Highways
In addition there are public highways ('i.e.', owned by the relevant local highway authority, which are not maintained). These are known by a variety of terms:
Unclassified County Road (UCR),
Unsealed, Unclassified County Road (UUCR),
or Other Routes with Public Access (ORPA).
Although these are (probably) public highways, whether motor vehicles are legally allowed is open to interpretation (and highway authorities differ on this). Even if motor vehicles are allowed, such use is often inadvisable. These highways will most usually be mapped as tracks. In some counties (Warwickshire, Lincolnshire) they are tagged
designation
unclassified_county_road
. In Lincolnshire some tracks are tagged
designation
unmade_road
: a term which is used in some access documents.
ALWAYS
add
known
access rights for individual transport modes. It will usually be safe to assume
foot
yes
horse
yes
and
bicycle
yes
. Remember that evidence of use is not evidence of a legal right of access.
A useful overview can be found on the Trail Riders Fellowship's
webpages
. The background in how such highways of dubious status is covered in
this document
from Buckinghamshire County Council. See also
Green lane (road)
Permissive Paths
Also taginfo shows a significant number of uses of:
designation
permissive_footpath
designation
permissive_bridleway
These tags should be used in combination with an appropriate
highway
=*
tag, and appropriate
access
=*
tags.
Commons
Land legally designated as common land can be tagged with
designation
common
Core paths in Scotland
Paths designated by local authorities as core paths can be tagged with
designation
core_path
UK Protected Areas
In the UK there are various levels of nature reserve and protected areas of countryside. It would seem natural to use the
designation
=*
tag to record the precise type of area, in addition to a more generic tag such as
leisure
nature_reserve
or
boundary
national_park
. There are currently a handful of uses of the following tags for this purpose:
designation
national_park
designation
area_of_outstanding_natural_beauty
(England and Wales)
designation
national_scenic_area
(Scotland)
designation
national_nature_reserve
designation
local_nature_reserve
designation
site_of_special_scientific_interest
designation
access_land
(England and Wales, via the
Countryside and Rights of Way Act
Civil parishes
Civil parish is a type of administrative district forming part of the local government structure. Tagged as
designation
civil_parish
Communities
Similar to civil parishes, but mostly in
Wales
. Tagged as
designation
community
Quiet lanes
Quiet lanes are
legally defined
roads where people should “drive slowly and carefully and be prepared to stop”. They can be tagged with
designation
quiet_lane
United States
Road classifications
This key is not widely used in the United States for official road classifications, in part because a given road may have multiple different designations depending on the authority. However, several designation-like keys are in very common use:
HFCS
=*
– FHWA
Highway Functional Classification System
NHS
=*
National Highway System
and its subclassifications
hgv:national_network
=*
National Network
(for trucks)
hgv:state_network
=*
– extensions to the National Network corresponding to state truck regulations
fdot:sis
=*
FDOT
Strategic Intermodal System
In addition,
expressway
=*
can sometimes correspond to a legal definition in some states, but it is primarily intended to reflect physical characteristics, potentially including specific signs.
When not to use
There are several circumstances where using
designation
=*
may feel natural, but where there are already other established tagging practices. Often these relate to circumstances where the designation of an object isn't an official/legal one. Examples of when not to use
designation
=*
would include:
Reference numbers
, e.g. for roads, bridges, etc. Use
ref
=*
instead.
The
name
of something. Use
name
=*
instead.
The ordinary, non-legal
description
of something. Use
description
=*
instead.
The
sport
played on a pitch or park. Use
sport
=*
instead.
The
religion
or
denomination
of a place of worship, graveyard or other religious object. Use
religion
=*
and/or
denomination
=*
instead.
Status and use
Established. This tag is part of the
guidelines for mapping public rights of way in England and Wales
. It was
formally proposed and rejected
back in March 2011. Despite that, the tag is in widespread use. As of January 2016,
Taginfo
reported over 200000 uses of this key, most of which are for
public_footpath
Use the
discussion page
for further comments, and consult
Taginfo's list
for values commonly in use.
See
Proposed_features/Highway_administrative_and_physical_descriptions
for a proposed global way to store the legal classification of roads.
See also
protection_title
=*
border_type
=*
Retrieved from "
Categories
Key descriptions for group "properties"
Key descriptions
Key descriptions with status "de facto"
Properties
Hidden categories:
Pages unavailable in Italian
Pages unavailable in Dutch
Item with no description in language PT
Item with no description in language IT
Item with no description in language UK
Item with no description in language PL
Item with no description in language FI
Item with no description in language NL
Item with no description in language HU
Item with no description in language ZH-HANS
Item with no description in language ZH-HANT
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