9mo ago

Difference Between Concrete, Concrete Slabs and Concrete Lanes?

I'm on Street Complete and I'm trying to differentiate between Concrete, Concrete slabs, and concrete lanes. There's a walkway that's just a normal concrete walkway, I didn't know there were so many designations for this.

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The Wiki is great for things like this. In this case the page on concrete has links to concrete slabs and concrete lanes, and both have pictures.
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:surface%3Dconcrete
Hope this helps :)
- I have to say it only adds to my confusion. What the heck is a “concrete plate”??
  the example looks like the worst possible surface imaginable for a road.
  
  I was also confused. I've been using concrete:plates for almost all walkways that I've encountered. On surface=concrete:plates it says this:
  surface=concrete - concrete forming a large surface, typically cast in place and may have predetermined breaking joints
  Which is confusing, because sidewalks AFAIK are cast in place and have predetermined breaking joints, but it seems like surface=concrete is more for mostly continuous concrete surfaces regardless of that text?
There might be something on the wiki, in the meantime how I decide is:
if it's a single expanse of poured concrete it's Concrete
if there is dirt / grass between two parallel tracks of concrete (whether or not the tracks have any joins) it's Concrete Lanes
if it's just concrete but there are seams where it's been poured separately, Concrete Slabs
And if it's anything else I skip.
- You're only supposed to use slabs (plates) if they were pre-made. If it was poured (whether in one batch or multiple), the wiki says it should be just "concrete".
  https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:surface :
  concrete: Portland cement concrete, forming a large surface, typically cast in place and may have predetermined breaking joints. For pre-fabricated plates, please use concrete:plates or concrete:lanes if you know how the concrete is laid out and one of these tags fits.
  edit: Tbh most people probably don't realize this, I probably mistagged some myself. I assume even advanced software would treat "concrete" and "concrete:plates" equally, perhaps giving some special treatment for "concrete:lanes".
  
  Unless I see them being constructed, how would I know?
- Thanks, that helps.

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