Tag:highway=steps

For flights of steps on footways and paths.

How to map

Add a way along the length of the steps with the tag highway=steps on it.

If known, use the tag incline=up — when the direction of the way points upwards — or the tag incline=down, respectively.

In the past, the tag direction=up direction=down was used instead of the tag incline=up or incline=down, but this was deprecated since the key direction=* is used for several other purposes.

For areas use also area:highway=steps

Tags to use in combination

• step_count=* can be added to indicate the number of steps, useful especially for cases where number of steps is low and sparse. It indicates in such cases that steps are less significant obstacle than indicated just by their length.
  • You can even map each individual step as a barrier=step node along the way.
• handrail=* can be used to specify where the handrail is located.
• tactile_paving=yes/(no)/incorrect if there is a paving on both ends of the steps that can be found with a blind person's stick.
• tactile_writing=yes/no indicates whether there is tactile writing available at the handrail(s) of the steps.
  • Note: If the handrail(s) is/are mapped separately with barrier=handrail, the key should be added on to this feature.
  • Note: If possible, the type of tactile writing which is available should always be specified, for example with tactile_writing:braille:lg=yes, see tactile_writing=* for details.
• surface=* indicates the surface.
• ramp=* indicates whether a ramp is available.
  • ramp:stroller=yes two-lane ramp with small steps
  • ramp:bicycle=yes ramp for bicycles
  • ramp:wheelchair=yes ramp for wheelchairs
  • ramp:luggage=yes/automatic/manual ramp for luggage
• level=* the floor levels connected or passed through by the stairs (e.g. at stations)
  • level=0;1 between the ground floor and the 1st floor
• width=* width in meters
• name=* add if the steps have a special name
• flat_steps=* a tag to express that the steps are actually flat enough to be driven on (e.g. 1 step every meter)

• Do not use access=yes (it applies to all transport modes), if you want to tag steps as generally accessible to pedestrians the best solution is to not set any access tags.
  • access=no + foot=yes would technically set it as "only pedestrians allowed" but that is quite tricky to process and brings no benefits

Examples

Following examples are with full steps-specific tagging. There are also other tags such as surface=*, lit=* etc not mentioned here. It is also fine to tag just highway=steps and leave detail for others.

Rendering examples

See also

• Proposed features/Access Ramp is a proposal for tagging independent ramps from 2008-03-06
• Proposed features/Steps features for additional tags describing steps from 2009-04-23 (some of these tags are in common use by now, some are replaced by others)
• Relations/Proposed/Area#Area-steps is a proposal for mapping area steps from 2009-12-02
• Stairs modelling some ideas regarding 3D modelling (and improvements for the 2D rendering of more complex cases of stairs) from 2014
• Proposed features/Area-steps is a proposal for mapping area steps from 2015-03-04
• MENTZ GmbH – proposals for indoor modelling of steps (first version from 2016)
• area:highway=steps – An area representation of a highway=steps which is separately mapped with a linear way.
• ladder=* – This tag indicates the presence of a ladder.

Possible tagging mistakes