OpenStreetMap
Q1: If I upload a GPS track, that is a bike trail, and specify it as a bike trail in Potlatch, does it show up different?
Q2: Can people turn display of Bike routes on and off somehow? Will it clutter the map?
Q3: Will routing software try to route cars down it?
Q4: Which Cycleway should I choose? These are 8-10ft wide concrete paths used by people walking and bikes. I am guessing Cycle Lane is part of a road, but what are the "(NCN)" choices? Footpath? Byway? Basically created by small towns along streams and through parks. 2-5miles long, they do cross roads.
Q5: Does opensourcemap have an issue with a GPS track that occasionally doubles back to route a different branch?
Discussion
Comment from POHB on 16 October 2008 at 09:20
I think you're getting confused between GPS tracks and the ways that make up the map. You can upload GPS tracks and use them to trace over to create map elements, but the track itself is not part of the map. You can get the editor to convert a track to a way, but you then need to tag it with attributes to say what it is, anything from a motorway to the boundary of a building.
Normally a GPS track from a cycle ride will cover a whole lot of different kinds of ways: residential streets, roads with or without cycle lanes, maybe bridleways or dedicated cycle paths. Each of these sections should be split from the others and tagged appropriately. Routing software will use these tags to determine what kind of vehicle can use that way and won't send a car down a bridleway or a bicycle down a motorway. The map renderers will use the tags to draw the way as required. A cycle-map renderer may emphasise specific cycle lanes, a car-map may only show them at high zoom, a railway map might not bother to show them at all.
Which cycleway (tag) to choose? Depends what it is. Take a look at the Map Features page in the wiki. From your description I'd say highway=cycleway and foot=yes for these concrete paths. Maybe add a surface=concrete if you want to be complete.
A track that doubles back and branches should be mapped as two (or three) ways that join at a common node. The section that was double-traced becomes a single way on the map.
Comment from randomjunk on 16 October 2008 at 09:32
and have a look at http://www.opencyclemap.org/ for a map that highlights cycle routes, and cycling facilities.
Comment from Adam Killian on 16 October 2008 at 13:50
The NCN= stuff is only for rendering on the cyclemap. If you tag is as a cycleway, it will show up as a dotted line in mapnik.
Comment from Andy Allan on 16 October 2008 at 15:53
I'd say more accurately the ncn stuff is for marking signposted cycle networks, which is different from individual cycle paths (highway=cycleway)