Once again i have the pleasure to announce that we, the OpenStreetMap Carto maintainers, have prepared a new release of the OpenStreetMap Carto stylesheet (the default stylesheet on the OSM website). Once changes are deployed on openstreetmap.org it will take a couple of days before all tiles show the new rendering.

Here are some details on the visible changes this release brings to the style.

Adding rendering of https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:shop=hearing_aids with a dedicated symbol

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:shop=hearing_aids is now rendered with a dedicated symbol rather than just a generic dot. The tag has shown a steady increase in use over the years and is used consistently in many parts of the world now with a total of nearly 10k uses.

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/4909

Thanks to contributor sommerbe for implementing this and working on a suitable symbol.

Restoring rendering of name labels for https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:natural=reef

Name label rendering for https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:natural=reef was unintentionally removed about five years ago and we have now restored that.

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/4918

Thanks to contributor dch0ph for implementing this change.

Adding rendering of lines with https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=jersey_barrier

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=jersey_barrier is used to map linear barriers of a certain construction and is used about 20k times so far - which is more common than https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=handrail, which we already rendered.

Like the other small barriers it is rendered with a thin gray line.

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/4923

Thanks to contributor dch0ph for implementing this change.

Removing rendering of https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:railway=preserved in favor of interpreting https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:railway:preserved=yes on other https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:railway

Tagging of preserved railways (that is historic railways that are preserved in an historic state) has undergone changes in recent years. Tagging with a distinct primary tag as https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:railway=preserved has decreased in use substantially while use of a secondary tag https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:railway:preserved=yes in combination with a normal https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:railway has become more popular.

We are now taking into consideration this change by removing support for https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:railway=preserved and adding interpretation of https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:railway:preserved=yes to use a different line signature indicating a preserved railway.

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/4965

Thanks to contributor Hidde Wieringa for implementing this change.

Removing rendering of https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:shop=jewellery as synonym for https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:shop=jewelry

One of the primary goals of OpenStreetMap Carto is to support mappers in consistent tagging practice. Therefore we aim to minimize the interpretation of several different ways to tag the same thing. One case of such synonym rendering has so far been the display of both https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:shop=jewellery and https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:shop=jewelry. The former has always been in minority use but it has, meanwhile, almost completely been removed from the database. Therefore, we are happy to remove that from rendering.

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/4988

Thanks to contributor BubbaJuice for implementing this change.

Adding rendering of https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:leisure=dance with a point symbol and label

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:leisure=dance is newly rendered with a symbol and name label. The tag is widely used to tag all kinds of venues where dancing is practiced. It is currently used about 11k times world wide.

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/4996

Thanks to contributor Jacob Wysko for implementing this and designing the symbol

Interpretation of transport mode specific access tags on roads/paths

As last i want to present the most significant change of this release, the re-configuation of rendering of access restrictions on roads and path. OpenStreetMap’s system of documenting access restrictions allows very detailed specification of who is allowed to use a certain road/path and how. So far, OpenStreetMap Carto has interpreted this only in a rather primitive way and it has been on our agenda for 11 years to change that.

What we have implemented now is not introducing any new map design features, we remain showing roads in three variants with two levels of access restriction indicated through light gray centerline dashing or dotting:

But what we are fundamentally changing the way we interpret the access tagging in OpenStreetMap to choose this classification. What we aim to show is the effective restriction for the primary mode of use relevant for the target map user. For all normal roads that is motorcar - we assume that most map users are for roads primarily interested in if those may be used with a normal passenger car. So we show:

• what is documented with https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:motorcar
• if that is missing we show what is in https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:motor_vehicle
• if that is missing as well we show what is in https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:vehicle
• if that is missing as well we show what is in https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:access

For footways, cycleways and bridleways accordingly the primary mode is foot, bicycle and horse respectively. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway=track is, so far, not changed (because of additional things that need to be considered). Here is how the changes look like:

We have further adjusted the lists of access values interpreted to lead to out three classifications:

• no, permit, private, agricultural, forestry, agricultural;forestry as no
• destination, delivery, customers as restricted
• explicit unknown is ignored
• anything else as yes

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/4952

Getting this over the finish line was exhausting. Big thanks to dch0ph for the patient work on that. Also thanks to everyone who has, over the years, contributed in some form to this issue.

Other changes

This release also includes various other, non-visible changes. For a full list of commits, see

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/compare/v5.8.0…v5.9.0

Note for deployments: This release newly requires a number of custom SQL functions to be installed on the rendering database. Instructions how to do that can be found in INSTALL.md. No database reload is required.

Thanks

The OSM-Carto maintainers thank all contributors. Particular thanks go to the new contributors:

• BubbaJuice,
• Maik Busch,
• sommerbe

As always, we welcome any bug reports at

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/issues