Tag:route=via_ferrata
 route = via_ferrata
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| Description |
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| A sporting facility enabling secure climbing on cliffs with appropriate gear via metal aids such as ladders, wires, spikes etc. |
| Group: routes |
| Used on these elements |
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| Useful combination |
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| See also |
Status: in use
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| Tools for this tag |
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This relation applies to all via_ferratas ways or nodes at a given place. It is useful especially for purpose-build via ferratas that are used for recreational sport (you usually do not need to hike for longer distances to reach them) that have variants or consist of multiple features that are mapped as different ways. It can also be used for longer via ferratas in the mountains that are meant to facilitate access to the mountains if they form a meaningful (usually named) unit.
It was only added to the original via_ferrata proposal quite late (in 2018) and also has never been voted on. However, it is used with some consistency. However, as it has not been approved, its use can change in the future.
How to map
Create a relation of type=route, route=via_ferrata and add all ways belonging to the ferrata to it. The ways can be of different types such as highway=via_ferrata, highway=path, climbing=route, steps or other as appropriate (do not tag for the mapnik renderer though). Add difficulty rating to the segments, then add the segments members to the relation with an "empty" role or a forward/backward as role for one way segments.
The relation can also have name=, description=, access=, fee= and other common tags as appropriate, typically, the relation should also have a via_ferrata_scale tag for the entire ferrata (which is not necessarily always the highest difficulty of its sub segments).
This use has of the ferrata relation has gotten some traction since 2018. No tile renderers support it right now. Ferrata relations are imported and rendered on XCTrails.org however.
In particular for relations, it is not always clear nor can it be reliably calculated (from elevation or way/one-way direction) where the ferrata actually starts. Hence, a tag via_ferrata=start on the respective node has become common.
Controversy
Purpose-build via ferratas sometimes have multiple variants that themselves consist of multiple segments (sections of different difficulty, bridges, even connecting paths and so on). The variants are sometimes named and can be colour coded: this information can be applied to individual ways and nodes with colour= and name=. However, these variants can overlap when they temporarily merge and then divert. Then it is unclear how to map this.