On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 10:23 AM Paul Allen <pla16...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Good question. But it more closely resembles a guidepost than a blaze. > Whereas the things being shoe-horned into guidepost in this thread more > closely resemble blazes. Elaborate blazes with text. Not that I'm > arguing we should abuse either tag by using for other things that > go against expectations. > > Sometimes 'expectations' turn out, on examination, to be 'cultural assumptions'. I tend to prefer, where possible, to interpret tags _sensu lato,_ because otherwise there's a tagging quandary any time something doesn't fit the definition _sensu stricto_. In the strict sense that you are advocating. I suspect that my area has absolutely nothing that you would call a 'guidepost',. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14276154341 is probably the closest, since the signs are outboard from the support, but even there, they aren't finger- or blade-shaped; they are rectangular signs hanging from a cantilevered arm. Cantilevered arms are unusual. Commoner practice around here is just to nail the signs to the support as with https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/15541120652 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/7881561738 Using a post is also uncommon. It's much more usual for the signs to be placed on whatever is available. Most commonly, that's a tree: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14276103771 https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14092717700 but it can be a utility pole https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/6936695538 a building https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14190539728 or some other convenient surface. (I've seen them on cliff faces, boulders, cairns and bridge railings, but I don't have photos to hand.) The common thread in all cases is that there's an enumeration of destinations, with directions identifying the ways that go to them, and (usually) the distances to the destinations. I distinguish a guidepost from a trail blaze in that a trail blaze ordinarily identifies only the trail you're on - or even just that you're on a trail - and sometimes (more often, just by implication) the direction to follow. Depending on the land manager's practice, around me a blaze could be a simple splash of paint https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14018094576, a generic marker in tin or plastic https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14018066876, a slightly less generic marker showing a trail purpose such as a spur leading to a campsite https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/10282365273, a sign with a route number (here also augmented with a generic blaze for a snowmobile trail) https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14318057029, or the logo of a particular trail. For example, in https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/7881583380 the stylized AT is the symbol for the Appalachian Trail, which goes through the crawlway as indicated by the arrow. The white rectangle (about 5 x 15 cm, long axis vertical) is the AT's usual blaze. On the sign already shown at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14092717700, there's a Long Path marker at upper left, with that particular trail's logo on it. (Its customary blaze is a 5 x 10 cm rectangle in aquamarine, already seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/14018094576. Usually the only directional indication with a trail blaze will be an arrow, and it's commoner to indicate the direction by conventional placement of the markers. In https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/4988268609, there are two markers on the tree at right, with the top one offset to the right, indicating a right turn. I don't ordinarily map trail blazes unless they're otherwise interesting for some reason. I make route relations for them. Sometimes, where a trail crosses open country (farmland or marshy ground) where there are no stones to build a cairn or natural surfaces to paint a blaze, a trail will be marked using posts with the blazes marked on them. Confusingly, the word 'guidepost' is also used in common speech for these, but I wouldn't use the 'guidepost' tag for them! I don't think I've ever seen a UK-style finger post on a trail or road around here. -- 73 de ke9tv/2, Kevin
_______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
