Israel

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The State of Israel (دولة إسرائيل, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל), Western Asia
latitude: 31.417, longitude: 35.079
Browse map of The State of Israel (دولة إسرائيل, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל) 31°25′01.20″ N, 35°04′44.40″ E
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The State of Israel (دولة إسرائيل, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל) is a country in Western Asia at latitude 31°25′01.20″ North, longitude 35°04′44.40″ East.
The State of Israel (دولة إسرائيل, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל) Mapping Project,
the home of The State of Israel (دولة إسرائيل, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל) on the OpenStreetMap wiki.
Hello! Welcome to the project for mapping efforts in The State of Israel (دولة إسرائيل, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל)!
You can find here national events, ongoing projects, map status and mapping guidelines, as well as links to other pages directly related to the mapping of The State of Israel (دولة إسرائيل, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל).
You may also find a list of contacts and mappers involved with the OpenStreetMap community in The State of Israel (دولة إسرائيل, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל).

This page contains information relating to mapping activity that is specific to Israel. Any guides or conventions on this page should be discussed in the forum, feel free to comment or help (mapping your area, tagging streets or correcting this page).

Discussion and communication

Forum

The Israel users forum is the main communication method. English only. Sign in with your OpenStreetMap DB account.

Mailing list

Talk-il is a mailing list for discussions about mapping Israel, and for easy communication between mappers from Israel. English & Hebrew are allowed. The list is not as active as the forum, but it may still be useful especially for those who do not have an OSM account.

Talk page

The talk page can be used for communication, but the forum is more active.

IRC

irc://irc.oftc.net #osm-il

Telegram

The telegram group is great for quick questions, mainly in Hebrew but English is okay too.

Conventions and guidelines

This section covers conventions and guidelines. Note that there are also additional guidelines for hiking and biking trails in the next section.

Naming

  • name=* and name:=* tags:
    1. The name=* tag should be used as the primary name, given in the language most common in the area. The name=* tag contains the name only in that common language.
    2. Additionally, the name should be stated using name:=* tags:
      1. A name:=* tag in the same language as the name=* tag.
      2. name:=* tags stating the name in other languages.
        • Use name:he=* for Hebrew
        • Use name:en=* for English (prefer the exact spelling as it is on the street sign)
        • Use name:ar=* for Arabic
        • Use name:ru=* for Russian
        • Use name:am=* for Amharic
    For example, the city of  Tel Aviv-Yafo has its main name as name=תל אביב-יפו and name:he=תל אביב-יפו in Hebrew, as well as name:en=Tel Aviv-Yafo, name:ar=تل أبيب-يافا and several other languages. The run of a bot will copy the name value from name=* to name:he=* or name:ar=*.
  • Add the full name written on the sign without including "rehov", "street", etc.
  • Do not use abbreviations, leave that for rendering.
  • Many streets in Arab or Druze villages do not have an official name. If there's a de-facto name, use it. Otherwise leave it blank. Do not make up a name yourself. Note that bus-stop names do not necessarily reflect the street name in such areas.

Inter-city roads

  • First rule for numbered roads: The category is determined by the color of the sign, not by the number of digits!
  • Different sections with the same road number can have different categories.
  • Speed limits stated below are the defaults by law, though can be altered in a specific road section by a "special speed limit" sign.
Key Value Element Description Color Example sign Default speed limit Key:ref tag on way Remark
highway motorway All freeways - National and Inter-City roads Blue 110 km/h mandatory for all highway=motorway Usually a single-digit road number (e.g. road 2) or a double-digit road number (e.g. road 20). Mapnik color: Blue.

Motorways mostly have an sign at the entrances, but not necessarily.

highway trunk National roads Red 100 km/h mandatory for all highway=trunk (including roundabout) Expressways / trunk in Israel can look very much like a freeway. Many of them have double-digit road number (e.g. road 10). Mapnik color: Green
highway primary All regional roads Green 90 km/h mandatory for all highway=primary (including roundabout) Many of them have triple-digit road number (e.g. road 412). Mapnik color: Red
highway secondary All regional roads Black 80 km/h only if exist Many of them have quadruple-digit road number (e.g. road 4111) and priority over other crossing roads (i.e. crossing drivers encounter a stop sign).

Exception for the priority rule: unnumbered roads that are important for routing connections may have crossing priority over secondary roads. Mapnik color: Orange

highway tertiary important (connection-) roads not numbered and without a colored sign no sign 80 km/h no Priority over other crossing roads (crossing drivers encounter a stop sign). Main roads inside cities are tertiary. Mapnik color: Yellow

Other road types

Also see next section for trails conventions.

Key Value Element Description Implied access
highway unclassified Smaller paved roads in non-residential places. e.g. agricultural roads, forest roads, roads from behind one village to behind another village, etc. motor_vehicle=yes, bicycle=yes, foot=yes
highway residential Roads in residential places (city, town, village, etc.) motor_vehicle=yes, bicycle=yes, foot=yes
highway service Short access roads: roads in parking lots, fuel stations, inside universities, inside factories, etc. motor_vehicle=yes, bicycle=yes, foot=yes
highway track Unpaved road suitable for motor vehicles (Double). motor_vehicle=yes, bicycle=yes, foot=yes
highway path A pathway too narrow for vehicles, accessible by foot, bicycle, and horse. Usually Unpaved.
Add bicycle=designated where the path is part of a bicycle trail.
Add foot=designated if the path is to be shared by bikers and hikers. 		motor_vehicle=no, bicycle=yes, foot=yes, horse=yes
highway footway Mainly, or exclusively for pedestrians. Use bicycle="yes" or change to highway=path if bicycles are also allowed. motor_vehicle=no, bicycle=no, foot=designated
highway cycleway Mainly, or exclusively for bicycles. Usually paved.
Add foot=designated if the path is shared with walkers. 		motor_vehicle=no, bicycle=designated, foot=no
highway pedestrian Where people walk and there are many shops. Like "Midrahov", or "Passage", etc. motor_vehicle=no, bicycle=yes, foot=yes, horse=yes
highway living_street "רחוב הולנדי" - Residential road where there is no sidewalk or other separation between pedestrians and vehicles. motor_vehicle=yes, bicycle=yes, foot=yes, horse=yes
highway road Temporary tagging, if the type is unknown. Try to add a "note" tag. motor_vehicle=yes bicycle=yes, foot=yes, horse=yes
bridge yes A bridge. Useful with layer=*
tunnel yes A tunnel. Useful with layer=*

Please see He:Map Features, this forum thread, and default access restrictions

Transportation

Key Value Element Description Hiking map rendering Cycling map rendering
railway rail Full sized passenger or freight trains in the standard gauge for the country or state. For a tunnel add tunnel=yes. TBA TBA
railway station Railway passenger and/or cargo station. Use in addition to public_transport=station. TBA TBA
aeroway runway Runway of an airfield TBA TBA
aerialway cable_car Cablecar or Tramway. Just one or two large cars. The traction cable forms a loop, but the cars do not loop around, they just move up and down on their own side, rolling along static cables over which they are suspended. See also: aerialway=chair_lift. TBA TBA

Points of interest

Key Value Element Description Hiking map rendering Cycling map rendering
tourism viewpoint A place worth visiting, often high, with a good view of surrounding countryside or notable buildings. TBA
ele Number Elevation (also known as altitude or height) above mean sea level in metre, based on the EGM96 geoid. Note that this elevation is different than the WGS84 height, as reported by some GPS receivers. (See ele for more information.) TBA TBA
historic ruins Remains of structures that were once complete, but have fallen into partial or complete disrepair. If the type of original structure is known or apparent it can be described using ruins=*, e.g. ruins=castle. TBA TBA
historic archaeological_site A place in which evidence of past activity is preserved TBA TBA
natural cave_entrance An entrance to a cave TBA TBA
natural tree A single tree TBA TBA
amenity place_of_worship Synagogue. Use religion=jewish TBA
amenity place_of_worship Church. Use religion=christian TBA
amenity place_of_worship Mosque. Use religion=muslim TBA
amenity place_of_worship Holy place. Use religion=bahai TBA TBA
historic memorial Much like a monument, but smaller. Might range from a WWII memorial to a simple plate on a wall. TBA TBA
historic monument A memorial object, wich is especially large (one can go inside, walk on or through it) or high enough, built to remember, show respect to a person or group of people or to commemorate an event. TBA TBA
power line A way following the path of (overground) power cables. TBA TBA
leisure park A park, usually municipal. TBA TBA

Barriers

Key Value Element Description Hiking map rendering Cycling map rendering
barrier gate A section in a wall or fence which can be opened to allow access. Closed gate: access=private. For a vehicles barrier set: bicycle=yes, foot=yes, motor_vehicle=no. TBA TBA
barrier cattle_grid A hole in the road surface covered in a series of bars that allow pedestrians and wheeled vehicles but not animals to cross. TBA TBA
barrier hampshire_gate A section of wire fence which can be removed temporarily.

Hampshire gates are quite common in Israel on both hiking trails and general-use unpaved tracks in non-urban areas.

TBA TBA
barrier stile A stile allows pedestrians to cross "over" or "through" a wall or fence, but never actually "opens" the barrier.

In Israel, the most common type of stile seen on hiking paths is a narrow passage between metal rods/tubes, triangular in plan (like this: ———<———; an example can be seen here or here). This kind of stile should be mapped with stile=squeezer and material=metal.

Another common type looks like a small rounded "bridge" (example); these should be mapped with stile=stepover and material=metal.

TBA TBA
barrier fence A freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary, generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction. TBA TBA
barrier wall A freestanding structure, designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary, typically made from solid brick, concrete or rocks, and almost always built so that it is opaque to vision. TBA TBA
natural cliff A vertical or almost vertical natural drop in terrain, usually with a bare rock surface TBA TBA

Borders and special areas

Key Value Element Description Hiking map rendering Cycling map rendering
boundary protected_area used to mark boundaries of protected areas including national parks, marine protection areas, heritage sites, wilderness, indigenous and other, similar areas. For national parks: boundary=national_park. TBA TBA
landuse military For land areas owned/used by the military for whatever purpose TBA TBA
way (Area A) Elements of Area A are members of  3791783 TBA TBA
way (Area B) Elements of Area B are members of  3791784 TBA TBA
boundary administrative An administrative boundary. Subdivisions of areas/territories/jurisdictions recognized by governments or other organisations for administrative purposes. TBA TBA

Services

Key Value Element Description Hiking map rendering Cycling map rendering
tourism picnic_site A locality that is pleasant and suitable for outdoors eating, with a number of facilities to aid a picnic. TBA
tourism camp_site An area where people can camp overnight using tents, camper vans or caravans. TBA
amenity drinking_water Drinking water is a place where humans can obtain potable water for consumption. Typically, the water is used for only drinking. TBA TBA
amenity parking Car park. Nodes and areas (without access tag) will get a parking symbol. Areas will be coloured. Streets on car parking are often tagged highway=service and service=parking_aisle. TBA TBA
amenity fuel Petrol station; gas station. TBA TBA
information guidepost Guideposts are often found along official hiking/cycling/skiing routes to indicate the directions to different destinations. Additionally they are often named after a region or place and shows the altitude. tourism=information is also required. TBA TBA

Areas

Key Value Element Description Hiking map rendering Cycling map rendering
landuse residential Predominantly houses or apartment buildings. TBA
landuse orchard intentional planting of trees or shrubs maintained for food production TBA TBA
landuse farmland An area of farmland used for tillage and pasture (animals, crops, vegetables, flowers, fruit growing). TBA TBA
landuse forest Managed forest or woodland plantation. TBA TBA
דשא TBA TBA
צמחית בר TBA TBA
natural sand An area covered by sand with no or very little vegetation. TBA TBA
landuse quarry Surface mineral extraction. TBA

Water

Key Value Element Description Hiking map rendering Cycling map rendering
waterway stream A naturally-forming waterway that is too narrow to be classed as a river. For an intermittent stream add intermittent=yes. TBA TBA
landuse reservoir There was considerable confusion whether landuse=reservoir is deprecated, but it turned out to be not deprecated and landuse=reservoir is used much wider than "new" way natural=water + water=reservoir. It may be a good idea to tag the actual water body with natural=water + water=reservoir in addition or instead of landuse=reservoir. See also the approved water details proposal and pointers to discussion on talk page. For an intermittent reservoir add intermittent=yes. TBA TBA
שטח הצפה יבש TBA TBA
natural waterhole A depression in which water collects, especially one where wild animals come to drink. TBA TBA
man_made water_well A structural facility to access ground water. TBA TBA
man_made cistern A waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings. TBA TBA
man_made water_tower Water tower TBA TBA

Places

See also: Places (lists and features of interest)

A place should have a node and a polygon.

The node tells the renderer where to draw the name of the place. It also should have all the tags related to the place, like population, wikipedia, etc. It should have all the various names with different spelling, e.g. name, name:en, name* and name:* tags.

The polygon should only have the following tags:

  • landuse=residential
  • place=*
  • name tags

All the other tags belong to the node. A place often has a related administrative boundary, too.

For neighborhoods a polygon isn't always used and a node can be sufficient.

Administrative boundaries

See also: Major boundaries (lists and features of interest)

The boundary=administrative tag is used on ways or relations to separate districts, cities, etc. Below is Israel-specific rules for the admin_level of the boundary.

Municipalities

See also: Lists and features of interest - places

Thanks to the MOIN Import. We are able to map townhalls, local municipalities, and regional municipalities.

A municipality should have a relation with one node with role admin_centre, and one or more ways, to form closed polygon(s).

The relation should have the following tags:

The nodeadmin_centre node should be a place node, or an amenity=townhall node in the case of a regional council.

The ways that comprise the polygon that are sourced from the MOIN import should have the following tags:

  • admin_level=8
  • boundary=administrative
  • date=08/2010
  • source=MOIN

Nature reserves

Because Nature Reserves are governed by law they are tagged as boundary=protected_area and the following tags:

National parks

Because National Parks are governed by law they are tagged as boundary=protected_area and the following tags:

Conventions for hiking and biking trails

See also: Trails (lists and features of interest)

For some general info see Walking Routes and cycle routes. Specific information about Israel can be found on Wikipedia and here (both in Hebrew).

A trail is represented by one or several ways , all belonging to the trail's relation . Generally speaking, the ways of a trail describe its geographical path and physical grade, while the trail relation holds its administrative information. Trails should be mapped according the following guidelines:

Ways belonging to a trail

  • Add a colour=* tag to ways belonging to local and regional trails. Note that the spelling is "colour" and not "color"!
    • When a trail has different Israel Trails Committee (ITC) and JNF (KKL) colors, use only the ITC color.
    • When a way belongs to local and regional trails, use the color of the local trail.
    • When a way belongs to two local ITC trails, use multi-value tagging with a semicolon, such as colour=red;green.
  • Try to add a source=* tag to ways belonging to the trail. Common tag values are source=GPS and source=Bing. The source tag is an indicator of the accuracy of the trail position. GPS-based mapping is preferred and it can replace Bing-based mapping.
  • For highway=track ways please try to add a tracktype=* tag, indicating which kinds of vehicles can use the track:
Key Value Description
tracktype grade1 High quality unpaved road. Usable, for example, by low-clearance cars - דרך עפר באיכות גבוהה
tracktype grade2 All vehicle unpaved road - דרך עפר לכל כלי רכב
tracktype grade3 All-wheel-drive unpaved road - "דרך עפר לרכב שטח "רך
tracktype grade4 Unpaved road requiring high clearance and/or low gear - (דרך עפר לרכב שטח "קשוח" (מוגבה ו/או עם הילוך כח
tracktype grade5 Unpaved road requiring a locking differential and high clearance - "דרך עפר לרכב שטח "נעול

Trail relations

Every marked trail should be represented by a relation and tagged according to the guidelines below. The ways belonging to the trail are the members of the relation.

Key Value Explanation
type=*routeMandatory. The relation represents a route.
route=*hiking / bicycle / mtb (mountainbike)Mandatory. The trail kind of the route.
network=*nwn / rwn / lwn / ncn / rcn / lcnMandatory. Level of the trail.
  • nwn: National Walking Network - Shvil Israel (Israel National Trail - שביל ישראל) only
  • rwn: Regional Walking Network - Special named (Golan, Jesus, Emek Ha'Ma'ayanot, Sovev Kineret, Jerusalem, etc.) and unnamed long "regional" (purple and orange) routes
  • lwn: Local Walking Network - All other walking routes
  • ncn: National Cycling Network - Israel Bike Trail (שביל ישראל לאופניים) only
  • rcn: Regional Cycling Network - Such as TLV-JM (מים לי-ם)
  • lcn: Local Cycling Network - All other bicycle routes(e.g. Ness Ziona Scenic, Canada Park Black)
operator=*itc/kkl/rtg/user-definedMandatory. The authority that built and maintains the route.
  • itc - Israel Trails Committee (הועדה לשבילי ישראל). Most of the hiking trails are of this type.
  • kkl - Keren Kayemet LeIsrael (הקרן הקיימת לישראל).
  • rtg - Rashut HaTeva VeHaGanim (רשות הטבע והגנים).
  • Other authorities, such as municipalities, by name.
osmc:symbol=*The shield of the route, used for rendering.Mandatory for ITC trails. Machine readable value for the route's colors and how the marking (shield) should look like.
Shield osmc:symbol Shield osmc:symbol
black:white:black_stripe blue:white:blue_stripe:orange_stripe_left
red:white:red_stripe purple:white:purple_stripe
blue:white:blue_stripe orange:white:orange_stripe
green:white:green_stripe blue:white:blue_stripe:green_stripe_left
black:white yellow:blue:yellow_stripe

For the single-colored routes, the value should follow this example: red:white:red_stripe, which means: red colored way is drawn with white background and a red vertical stripe. In particular, the foreground color and the stripe color should be equal to the "colour" tag of every way in the trail ("red" in the above example). The shield background color should always be "white".

A transparent shield would be tagged with osmc:symbol=black:white.

Tags for three-colored trail marks, such as Israel Trail and Golan Trail, should follow this example: blue:white:blue_stripe:orange_stripe_left, which means: blue colored way, white background shield, a blue vertical stripe in the middle, and an orange vertical stripe on the left.

name=*a nameHighly recommended. The route is known by this name (e.g. "Shvil Israel", "Golan Trail"). The name should be preferably specified in Hebrew.
name:en=*a nameOptional. The English route name.
name:he=*a nameOptional. Identical to the name attribute above.
ref=*a referenceOptional. The route number as specified by the Israel Trail Committee.

See also

The original discussions can be seen here and also here.

Names of unofficial MTB single-tracks

Official mountain-bike (MTB) trails are represented using relations, as described above. In addition there are many unofficial single-tracks that have been named by the MTB community. Such single-tracks do not have relations. Instead, the mtb:name=* mtb:name:he=*, and mtb:name:en=* (optional) are placed on the way(s) themselves.

The mtb:name=* tags can also capture the name of a special segment within an official MTB trail. For example, the "סינגל הכלניות" segment of Beeri Single.

Lists and features of interest

Major boundaries

See also: Administrative boundaries (conventions and guidelines)

Country boundaries

Districts

Note: are legal, administrative boundaries. In OSM, Judea and Samaria relation represents areas under Israeli civilian control, but without being annexed by Israel.

  • Oslo Accords areas:
    • Area A and B and C  13283819
    • Area A  3791783 - Exclusive Palestinian Authority control.
    • Area B  3791784 - Palestinian Authority civil control, Israeli military control.
    • Area C  3791785 - Exclusive Israeli control.
  • Palestine  1703814 - A relation consisting of Gaza Strip and areas of West Bank that are under civilian control of the Palestinian Authority.
  • 1949 Armistice Line (הקו הירוק - The Green Line)  7304999 - Do not exclusively rely on this for travel / passport related activities.
  • Separation wall  1410327 - Physical separation barrier.

Places

See also: Places (conventions and guidelines) and Municipalities (conventions and guidelines)

Wikipedia has up to date lists for Local Councils, Regional Councils, Municipalites (cities), sub-districts, and Districts.

cbs.gov.il has lists of all populated places. (Last update 31/12/2015)

Here is a list of all OSM places in Israel in Hebrew and English. (Last update 2011 - discuss)

Here is a list of all OSM municipalities (cities) in Israel in Hebrew and English. (Last update 2011 - discuss)

Trails

See also: Conventions for hiking and biking trials

List of all trails (Last update 2011 - discuss)

National and regional trails

Trail Relation Trail mark
Israel National Trail 282071
Israel Bike Trail 6639060
Golan Trail 568661
Upper Galilee Trail 2193374
Sea to Sea Trail 2860967
Jesus Trail 364191
Sovev Kineret Trail 5145441
Lower Galilee Trail 3929958
Haifa Wadis Trail 3734116
Ramat Menashe Trail 3418441
Jerusalem Trail 1314299
TLV JM Bike Route 947776
Har HaNegev Trail 6148872
Makhtesh Ramon Trail 6148296

Branches and brands

For a list of common brands and company branches, see the bot templates. When tagging a brand, adding "name" or "brand" should be enough, SafwatHalaby bot will eventually add all the other needed tags.

Tel Aviv bicycle rentals

Tel Aviv Bicycle Rentals (Last update 2011 - discuss)

Forests

List of Forests in Israel (Last update 2011 - discuss)

Trains

Discussion in forum

List of Trains in Israel (last update 2011 - discuss)

Mapping tools

The following list has Israel-specific permalinks to QA and monitoring tools:

Note that some tools may show entries from neighboring countries, because they're based on a rectangle bounding box.

Useful QA tools

The following are general QA tools that can be helpful:

Statistics

The following are Israel-specific statistics:

Alternative map

The Israel Hiking Map features a built-in editor. It is simpler than iD and is tuned for hiking and cycling. Use iD or JOSM for more complex edits.

Aerial maps

Bing

The most recent layer is Bing.

Forum discussion: https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=59935

The precise date is unclear, and it may be varying by place. According to the Bing Imagery Analyzer, the minimum year is 2009 and the maximum year is 2016, but it's unclear whether or not the actual range is a subset of that.

Bots and imports

Below is a list of major imports and active bots.

Bot

SafwatHalaby's scripts currently operate in Israel and update bus stops and name tags.

GEOnet Names Server (gns) import

On 14 July 2008, in changeset 486478, BaruchEven imported "all locations based on the GEOnet Names Server" at that time. The imported nodes had a source=GEOnet Names Server (gns) tag, a unique gns_ref tag, and the accuracy of their location was captured with an accuracy=minutes tag. Translations of the names were not part of the import. For more information, see an historic version of this page.

KKL Forest import

KKL donated shape files for its managed forests.

Discussion in forum

List of Forests in Israel

KKL declined a subsequent request to import its trails data.

Bus stop import

Israel public GTFS data was used. Changeset #12028672. Discussion: https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?pid=653719

Since November 2017, the stops are being automatically updated periodically. See: https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=60149

Tel Aviv address import

Todo info.

MOIN import

https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=10756

Maps

Cities

People involved

See also: Category:Users in Israel

Note: Both lists may be out of date. See the active user statistics by Neis-One for an up-to-date picture.

See also

This article is issued from Openstreetmap. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.