"What's the surface here" question for non-existent (but required) way

[jamescridland]

While wandering around Munich recently, I was asked about the surface for a non-existent way. The way exists, I was told, for routing purposes; but it isn't visible on the ground.

If such is asked in Streetcomplete, best ignore it and walk on. The app cannot judge, whether the question is meaningful for the particular way, so the mapper must decide.

I would typically create a note when something doesn't match with the actual on-the-ground experience. That then allows me to go back and make edits where it makes sense to do so.

In this case, I'm wondering whether there's a way to programmatically spot this type of way, to avoid polluting the map. But there again, I guess these types of ways are polluting the map anyway - given they only really exist for the router. It might be worthwhile setting a minimum length required for a way?

[Helium314]

Looks like the way could be tagged as link, then SC will not ask: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:footway