Pistes
| Piste Maps | |
|---|---|
| Proposal status: | Approved (active) |
| Proposed by: | * |
| Tagging: | various=various |
| Statistics: |
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| RFC start: | 2008-01-04 |
Approval
Even though a voting never took place, this feature has been accepted by the community. In Europe more than 10 000 objects are tagged with these features.
Summary
This proposal is for a whole set of tags that are required to describe piste maps. Until now there are few possibilities to map a ski resort. (Few) Information is given here: OpenPisteMap, WikiProject Piste Maps, Key:aerialway. josm for example already supports parts of the proposed features here, like the piste:difficulty or aerialway=station.
In winter 2005/2006 some experiments were performed to record tracks and tag piste maps. This proposal builds on that experience but takes into account the development of additional techniques (such as areas) that have been developed since then.
Tag prefix
Piste map-specific tags will use the piste: namespace to avoid potential conflicts with similar tags used in other contexts (eg capacity, speed, classification).
It may help English speakers to know that piste is a marked path or run down a mountain for snow sports, and comes from the French word for "track" or "trail."
Areas
- landuse=winter_sports
- name=name of resort or ski area (e.g. Espace Killy)
Ski lifts
aerialway
Key:aerialway has already been accepted onto Map Features, but this proposal involves making the following changes to that key:
- Split 'gondola' off as a new value, distinct from 'cable_car'
- Split aerialway=drag_lift into several types of surface lifts, typically used in ski areas. These can be considered aerialways due to the aerial (or partially aerial) cable, even though they don't actually carry people through the air. aerialway=magic_carpet isn't an aerialway at all, but it fits better here than placing it in a new tag. This means, that old aerialway=drag_lifts should be changed. (i.e. deprecation of aerialway=drag_lift)
- additionally add a 'pylon' node value.
- add several attributes which aerialways may have.
The resulting set of values would be as follows:
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Example | Icon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aerialway | cable_car |  |
cablecar or tramway. Just one or two large cars. The cable forms a loop, but the cars do not loop around, they just move up and down on their own side. | 
| |
| aerialway | gondola | |
gondola lift. Many cars on a looped cable. | 
| |
| aerialway | chair_lift | |
chairlift. Looped cable with a series of single chairs (typically seating two or four people, but can be more) Exposed to the open air. This implies oneway=yes. Any two-way chairlifts should be tagged oneway=no |  
| |
| aerialway | mixed_lift | |
A mixed lift, containing both gondolas and chairs. | 
| |
| aerialway | t-bar | |
t-bar lift. This automatically implies oneway=yes. | 
| |
| aerialway | j-bar | |
a j-bar lift, like t-bar but just on one side. This automatically implies oneway=yes | ||
| aerialway | platter | |
Platter lift, similar to a t-bar, but with a disc instead of a bar. Single-person only. This automatically implies oneway=yes. Not rendered by all renderers due to disscussion wheter a platter lift is an aerialway or not. Alternate tag piste:lift=platter can be used instead. | ||
| aerialway | rope_tow | |
a rope tow. This automatically implies oneway=yes. | ||
| aerialway | magic_carpet | |
magic carpet. This automatically implies oneway=yes. | ||
| aerialway | pylon |  |
Supporting tower for an aerialway. May be numbered with ref=number | ||
| aerialway | station | |
For stations, especially when they are in the middle | ● |
(for completeness: Railways going up a hill are discussed and proposed separately: railway=incline)
Aerialway attributes
The start and end nodes of a way tagged as a piste:lift are assumed to be a station. These nodes may have their elevation documented with ele=*. If additional information should be given, the way (of the lift) should get a new tag (note access should also be dependant on transport (ski/foot/bicycle/?):
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aerialway:occupancy | number of people in each car, chair, etc | |
piste:lift:occupancy=1 implied for platter and piste:lift:occupancy=2 implied for t-bar | |
| aerialway:capacity | number of people per hour | |
piste:lift:capacity=2600 | |
| aerialway:duration | number in minutes | |
average/typical time for journey on lift from one station to the next | |
| aerialway:bubble | yes/no (default) | |
yes if there is a bubble | |
| aerialway:heating | yes/no (default) | |
yes if there is a heating | |
| aerialway:bicycle | yes/summer/no | |
yes if bicycles are transported all year round, summer if bicycles are transported in summer only, yes=default for cablecar/gondola/mixed_lift; no=default for chairlifts, t-bars and others | |
| aerialway:access | entry/exit/both | |
denotes the access allowed at this node, entry means it is possible to board the lift here, exit means it is possible to get off. both means boarding and disembarkation are possible (often the case for gondolas and cable-cars). Add summer or winter for aerialways where in winter there are different rules from summer (often in winter only ascending is allowed) | |
| aerialway:summer:access | entry/exit/both | |
denotes the access allowed at this node during summer season. |
Pistes
A piste may be a route through a variety of different terrains. It might consist of a meadow or a mountain road or part of a glacier. Therefore piste mapping has two levels.
- Underlying elements: meadow, mountain road, part of glacier etc. These might be defined as ways or areas
. - The underlying elements are grouped together by a
relation route=piste.
In this way one piste can consist of multiple elements and one element (road etc.) can belong to several pistes (relations).
Below, there will be discussed the tags applicable to the underlying elements. For more information on the piste relation, see route=piste.
Survey of some piste types like nordic or skitour leave considerable freedom of judgement to the mapper of what a nordic/skitour is. It is suggested to tag recommended routes by some tourism authority and pistes used by many people during a season. But do not add pistes that are only used by very few people (e.g only yourself), or that are dangerous (avalanche etc.). Keep in mind that adding a piste is a recommendation to other people for using the piste.
Type
The piste:type tag can be used on any existing or new way. Specifically it is very useful for marking a piste that uses an existing way, like for example a track. This is very useful (e.g. in the Apls) where forestry tracks can be used in Winter for hiking, sledding, skitouring and nordic skiing.
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| piste:type | downhill | |
An alpine/downhill ski route. ways should be use for trails connecting the routes. This automatically implies oneway=yes. The direction of the way should be the downhill direction. | |
| piste:type | nordic | |
A nordic/cross country ski trail (also see #Style or kind of grooming). The direction of the way should be the preferred/compulsory skiing direction (see piste:oneway below). Nordic pistes are circular ways if the first and the last point are the same and cannot be rendered as areas. Currently implemented in this way by Osmarender. | 
|
| piste:type | skitour | |
A recommended ski tour way or area that is generally used by many skiers during a season for the purpose of a nordic ascent and a downhill descent in the backcountry. Generally the descent is recommended near the ascent route for safety and terrain judgement and the descent is not mapped. To map an alternate descent, use piste:type=downhill with piste:grooming=backcountry. Implies piste:grooming=backcountry. Also defined in the wikipedia Ski touring. Rendered as area if first and last point are the same. If a circular way is needed, do not close the way (first and last point is not exactly the same). | 
|
| piste:type | sled | |
Use this tag exclusvely for a sledding piste or add this tag to a way or tack that is prepared for or commonly used by sleds to go downhill. Sleds are smaller vehicles that are pulled by a human or propelled only by gravity. Use piste:oneway=yes if the piste has a do not walk uphill sign. If the way is used also for ascending to the top (e.g. by foot) use piste:oneway=no. The combination with piste:lit=yes indicates sledding tracks with lighting that is only turned on in winter. Implied grooming is piste:grooming=classic for natural luge track grooming, but alternatively one can use piste:grooming=backcountry for ungroomed or badly groomrd trails. | 
|
| piste:type | hike | |
A piste for nordic walking or hiking in winter (Winterwanderweg) that is usually announced by a tourism authority. A classic groomed piste (piste:grooming=classic) can be hiked with simple boots or can be used for running (default if grooming is absent). A piste:grooming=backcountry groomed piste requires snow shoes. | |
| piste:type | sleigh | |
A piste exclusively for not self propelled sleighs. This might be horse/husky drawn sleighs (Santa Claus style). Definition: A sleigh is typically a partially enclosed vehicle with seats for passengers that is drawn by animals and slides on runners. | |
| piste:type | ice_skate | |
A piste exclusively for ice skating. | 
|
| piste:type | snow_park | |
a funpark with rails, quarter pipes, etc | |
| piste:type | playground | |
A ski playground is a designated location which has been developed or set up to assist children to learn to ski naturally, and which provides a variety of skiing discoveries. | 
|
| man_made | piste:halfpipe | |
a halfpipe. This automatically implies oneway=yes | 
|
Frequently groomed nordic tracks are dual (ab)used as hiking tracks and sledding tracks for skitouring and hiking. Some of these uses are inofficial. Currently there is no qualified way to tag dual use pistes.
Difficulty
Note: For showing signposting color of pistes (notably for crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing), user may wants to use the Tag:route=piste proposal, and keep the difficulty tag to give information on the actual difficulty of the way.
| Key | Value | US/Canada/Oceania | Europe | Japan | Skitour: [1] | Nordic (crosscountry) | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| piste:difficulty | novice | "bunny hill" | green | L: inclination <30 degree, no sliding, soft hilly terrain, no narrow passages | Strictly flat terrain, no effort needed | ||
| piste:difficulty | easy | green circle | blue (applies to nordic, downhill, sled) | green | WS: inclination 30-35 degree, short sliding areas, open terrain with short steep passages and easily avoidable obstacles, short narrow passages | Soft hills, short steep sections | |
| piste:difficulty | intermediate | blue square | red (applies to nordic, downhill, sled) | red | ZS: inclination 35-40 degree, longer sliding areas, terrain with steep passages that cannot be avoided, short narrow but steep passages | Steep sections are present in the piste, or short narrow on average slopes. User gets away with sweat. Used for the relevant sections only | |
| piste:difficulty | advanced | black diamond | black (applies to nordic, downhill, sled) | black | S: inclination 40-45 degree, long sliding areas with scarps below (life danger!), steep terrain with many obstacles, long narrow passages (short swings still possibe) | Steep sections are present in the piste, with narrow steep passages or sharp turns in steep passages, often icy pistes. Used for the relevant sections only | |
| piste:difficulty | expert | double black diamond | orange (Alps), double-black (Scandinavia) | SS: inclination 45-50 degree, long sliding areas with scarps below (life danger!), steep rocky terrain with many obstacles, narrow passages may require some crossjumps | Steep sections are present in the piste, with narrow steep passages or sharp turns in steep passages, often icy pistes. Dangerous terrain surrounds the piste. Used for the relevant sections only | ||
| piste:difficulty | freeride | (e.g. off-piste) | yellow | AS: inclination 50-55 degree, very exposed terrain, no spot to rest during descent, narrow passages require many crossjumps | Not relevant | ||
| piste:difficulty | extreme | climbing equipment required | EX: inclination >55 degree, extremely exposed terrain, need to use ropes to go downhill | Not relevant |
Grooming
Intended for use with piste:type=nordic, piste:type=downhill (classic, mogul, backcountry), or piste:type=sled (classic, backcountry) to describe the style of piste preparation.
| Key | Value | Comment | Pictogram | Suggested rendering |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| piste:grooming | classic | Groomed for classic style nordic or downhill skiing. If omitted for sledding runs (piste:type=sled) it implies groomed as "natural luge(sled) track". Default value is assumed if piste:grooming is omitted. |
|| | 
|
| piste:grooming | mogul | A piste:type=downhill groomed for Mogul skiing (Buckelpiste) | ||
| piste:grooming | skating | Groomed for free style or skating | \/ | 
|
| piste:grooming | classic+skating (classic;skating is deprecated) | Both of the above. Do not add spaces and always use classic before skating! | |/ | 
|
| piste:grooming | scooter | Classic style groomed by a smaller snowmobile, which means that the piste is often much looser and single lane. | |! | 
|
| piste:grooming | backcountry | Off-piste cross-country skiing, often referred to as "backcountry touring", where tracks are made manually by skiers. Use with marked, cleared, ungroomed ski trails. Use with often used, ungroomed sledding trails. |
!! | 
|
Many providers of ski preparation data draw a line between tracks groomed by wikipedia:snowmobile, and larger wikipedia:snow grooming vehicles that produce cross-country ski-trails conforming to FIS standards (reference needed).
Discussion issue:
There may be a need for a tag to specify the gap between the skis in a classic nordic ski track (NOR: sporlegger/sporbredde), such as (piste:grooming:trackwidth=15/17/22/adjustable [cm].
Background for this: Skiforeningen, the Norwegian (Oslo-area) grooming organization are starting experimentation on user preferences.
At Sjusjøen, they are also conducting experiments, and will build a groomer that can set different widths uphill and downhill.
Map of 17cm wide ski tracks in Oslo-area winter 2010
Other Features
| Key | Value | Element | Comment | Pictogram | Suggested rendering (nordic) | Suggested rendering (downhill) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| piste:name | string | any piste | Alternate name for the piste. Use as alternate name if the piste is a track or way that has a name already and has a different piste-name. | none | rendered as name if no name tag exists; rendered by pistemap renderers only if name and piste:name exist. | |
| piste:status | open/closed | any piste | Use for pistes if they open for the season and set to closed during summer (this is most useful for single (e.g. sled) type pistes). Use for live data feeds to OSM in the future. Do not use tag if data is guaranteed to incurrent (does not receive regular/live updates). Default=unknown | none | Render always normally on general map. Summer sport specific maps may ignore closed pistes. Winter specific may use some special marking. Remember that data is probably only valid for some specific pistes that receive live updates. | |
| piste:oneway | yes/no | |
If you tag a track or way as piste and the oneway specifically applies only if the way is used as piste during winter. | |||
| piste:certifications | string comma separated | |
Pists that are certified for safty, grooming and quality by a local association. The seal of quality must be published by the association. The tag should be not present if no certifications exist. | none | Example: TRV Naturrodelbahngütesiegel 2009 ROT | |
| piste:lit | yes | |
If you tag a track or way as piste and the lit specifically applies only if the way is used as piste during winter. | -o- |  |
semi-transparent yellow underneath? |
| lit | yes | |
Lit for night time skiing. | -o- | |
semi-transparent yellow underneath? |
| piste:abandoned | yes | |
Former, now unofficial and unmaintained ski-trail. | : |  |
dashed version of current? |
| gladed | yes | |
Pistes with trees or entire areas of thinned-out trees | ^ | n/a? | tree icons? |
| patrolled | no | |
Pistes that are not patrolled, though they may be marked and maintained | NP | letters NP | letters NP |
If a ski trail is ungroomed due to having no-one to groom it (e.g. a permanently-closed commercial ski area), abandoned=yes may be used. The difference between a backcountry, not groomed and abandoned may seem fuzzy: Important difference is that low vegetation can be expected, and lack of clearing could be due to issues with land owners.
Priority
Grooming condition and priority: Ski-trails can be marked with piste:grooming:priority=1-5 (or piste:priority=* ?) to indicate the order in which they will be groomed.
As OSM is not directly suitable for live-ski-trail-condition monitoring, this will allow rendering maps that have a static way of depicting ski-trails that will be more likely to be in the best shape under less fortunate snow conditions. One example of a such map in Norway use different line widths for this.
Start counting from first priority and downwards. Assume the priority is relative within each area.
| Key | Value | Description: Expected grooming schedule |
|---|---|---|
| piste:priority | 1 | Daily, or nearly daily. |
| piste:priority | 2 | Daily if snowing. At least weekly, typically before every weekend. |
| piste:priority | 3 | Semi-weekly. Probably before weekends. Not when less snow, early/late in the season. |
| piste:priority | 4 | Every other week. May be three days or more after snow before groomed. |
| piste:priority | 5 | Only when lots of snow, or for events only. |
Other
Routes
- Tag:route=ski
- Tag:route=piste (proposed)
Rental
- Sled rental (rental=sled or amenity=sled_rental)
- Ski rental (rental=ski or amenity=ski_rental)
Amenities and Related Sports
- ski school (building=yes, amenity=ski_school)
- ticket office (shop=ticket / or modify office=travel_agent proposal for general ticket sale)
- mountain restaurant (amenity=restaurant, building=yes)
- mountain rescue and ski patrol (amenity=mountain_rescue)
- mountain hut/refuge/lean to (amenity=shelter)
- bobsled track (sport=bobsled)
- Hot pools (sport=swimming)
- piste maps/skiing maps (tourism=information, information=map, ski=yes)
- Ski playgrounds leisure=ski_playground
Voting (not open yet)