Pole vs. waiting area node vs. bus stop location

[jeflem]

The wording of PTSA suggests that a node with highway=bus_stop next to a road marks the position of a pole. Original interpretation of such nodes seems to have been 'location of a bus stop' without any further relation to concrete objects like poles or shelters. Using the pole (if there is any) to position the node was just an advice to mappers, but was not intended to replace the tag's original meaning.

Instead of 'pole' PTSA could use 'waiting area' or something similar to clarify that PTSA's poles aren't to be understood in the true sense of the word but as 'the node marking the position of the bus stop or of the stop's waiting area'.

Further suggestions for better wording welcome!

[jeflem]

Thoughts in the opening post of this issue are based on private discussion with OSM user bergaufsee.

[Brickblock1]

Would support for public_tranport=pole be worth considering as a part of this? it helps provide a richer model of a public transport stop and is already quite widley used in parts of france.

Example where the top most node is tagged as pt=pole

[jeflem]

Didn't know the tag pt=pole up to now. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

At least pt=pole would resolve the issue that lots of (German) stops have two objects with pt=platform, a way for the platform and a node for the pole. I'll consider to make PTSA pay attention to pt=pole in next dev session.

Regarding the wording issue ('pole' vs. 'waiting area'), having pt=pole makes the need for a clear distinction between poles and waiting areas in PTSA even clearer.

[jeflem]

Checked lots of public_transport=pole locations to see how this tag is used out there. Often it does not add any new information and is (from my point of view) missused for all kinds of objects. Sometimes a shelter has this tag, sometimes a vending machine has it. In some cases there's a way with pt=platform, a node with pt=platform and a (different) node with pt=pole.

The idea to explicitly mark poles is very good, but current usage does not consistently mark poles. From the examples I looked at I do not get when pt=pole is used. Seems to be something different than a pole. For me a public transport pole is some construction holding a sign that says 'here is a public transport stop' and (often) also shows a timetable.

For the moment I do not add pt=pole to PTSA, but still support the idea to have an explicit tag for distinguishing poles from waiting positions for passengers.