OpenStreetMap logo OpenStreetMap

LGBT+ crossings - how to map?

Posted by xyzl on 7 July 2021 in English.

A number of areas in the UK (and the world) have painted crossings in LGBT+ pride rainbow colours to support LGBT+ rights.

In the UK at least, these are often referred to as ‘rainbow crossings’. They don’t always look the same, with some using different colours/pride flags.

Image of two rainbow pedestrian crossings next to each other with a pedestrian island separating them, the lines of colours are oriented so that they are horizontal, similar to an LGBT flag, from the point-of-view of a driver, or vertical to someone crossing the street Image of rainbow crossing by Matt Brown used under Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license.

Here’s a recent example from Bristol, a city in the South West of England: https://www.bristol247.com/lgbtq/news-lgbtq/bristol-gets-its-first-rainbow-crossing/ .

Here’s two in a London borough: https://www.richmond.gov.uk/first_rainbow_crossings_unveiled

and another: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-51446121

one at Surrey University: https://my.surrey.ac.uk/news/introducing-our-new-rainbow-crossing

And here’s one in New Zealand - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba_Street_rainbow_crossing

In the UK, these seem to usually be (maybe always?) regular button-operated controlled crossings with traffic lights, just with LGBT+ rainbow paint where the crossing is.

There is some talk from 2019 here osm.wiki/Talk:Key:lgbtq on how to map these, but I’m not sure it was very definitive and I’m not sure I’m a fan of it - these crossings are a known ‘thing’, so to me it seems clunky to tag it as artwork each time.

What are everyones thoughts?

Email icon Bluesky Icon Facebook Icon LinkedIn Icon Mastodon Icon Telegram Icon X Icon

Discussion

Comment from Mickael S on 7 July 2021 at 21:16

I already commented on the wiki, but I would like to add that a new scheme need to take in account more the crossings, since some towns (or at least 1 town) used the same idea for stairs:

For example, in Nantes (France): https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/loire-atlantique/nantes-marches-des-fiertes-c-est-quoi-cet-escalier-arc-en-ciel-5961061

In Rennes (France): https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/2520323-20190517-escalier-arc-ciel-rennes-2-lutter-contre-homophobie-transphobie

Or in Kelowna, BC, Canada: https://equity.ok.ubc.ca/news/updated-rainbow-staircase-reflects-diversity-of-the-ubco-lgbtq2sia-community/

And sometime, they are not linked to LGBTQ+ struggles, like in Aberdeen ( https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/rainbow-stairs-add-a-splash-of-colour-to-aberdeen-city-centre2/ ) or Istanbul ( https://thirdeyetraveller.com/rainbow-stairs-in-istanbul/ )

Comment from xyzl on 7 July 2021 at 21:51

Definitely true. There’s also a rainbow bike path in the Netherlands. https://youtu.be/sSHOQQkAwk4

Maybe a colour or design tag? That way bike paths could also be tagged as to their colour. E.g. red, blue, green depending on what they are.

Log in to leave a comment