Replying to skyper:
I just did change a small unpaved hiking trail in the mountains from footway -> path, IMOH the opposite is much worser.
Still, it is not as good if was qualified with surface/visibility and other tags?
If this trail in the mountains (with rocks, cliffs and such), then it makes sense to tag it with sac_scale=* / mtb:scale=*, isn't?
What should I map if I have a source for paths but without any physical information (e.g. Maps4BW) ?
If you don't have any physical/surface information, you shouldn't enter fake/estimated values. Survey it over time and you will get complex parts of the tail (visibility, mtb:scale) or with complicated passibility (surface, smoothness).
highway=path is ambiguous without any (visibility, mtb:scale, surface, smoothness) tags.
hw=path users (myself including) trying to differentiate them from hw=footway, but exact reason "why are they different" is simply unknown if they only use single hw=path tag.
