OpenStreetMap
There is a proposal to change the rendering of footway and path so that they basically look the same in the default OSM rendering.
https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/1713
I fully support this.
Perhaps, this is the best way that widely used, but confusing and redundant tags such path/footway are rationalized. Basically, give up, declare them synonyms, and render based on dependent/sub tags. Our limited energy can be used on better tags such as surface, designated, access, foot, pet, etc to describe this thing you can walk on in more detail.
Discussion
Comment from tyr_asd on 13 August 2015 at 10:49
In the meantime, the PR has been merged already.
Comment from Warin61 on 13 August 2015 at 11:02
I too support the rendering of a ‘footway’ that has the same tags as a ‘path’ to be the same. After all the tags say they are the same!
highway=footway surface=paved width=1
is the same as
highway=path surface=paved width=1
Comment from ViriatoLusitano_import on 13 August 2015 at 17:21
I always mapped paths and footways based on whenever they were made or built.
A path is a way that is always unpaved and they are created by the constant usage and inevitable tear of the ground caused by human or animal locomotion. Usually found in forests, parks or in undeveloped residencial places as people might create shortcuts in these.
A footway is a planned infrastructure that was either built from nothing or is created by upgrading a path to have certain amenities like a paved ground, illumination, etc.
Comment from Jean-Marc Liotier on 17 August 2015 at 08:59
I came to write what ViriatoLusitano_import just wrote:
While some renderings may consider this difference negligible, I believe that it most definitely warrants differentiated tagging.