Tag:access=permit

The tag access=permit indicates an area or feature which is open only to people who have obtained a permit granting them access. As usual with access values, it can be used with more specific transport modes, such as vehicle=permit or bicycle=permit.

When to use

As originally proposed, this tag should be used in cases where a permit is required, but is routinely granted to everyone requesting it. In cases where access to permit is obstructed it would be more appropriate to tag these areas access=private or access=no. So access=permit does not apply where permit is rarely granted, or only granted in exceptional circumstances, or if obtaining it is complex or there is a long waitlist.

Permit situations may be complex. A mapper on the ground encountering a "permit required" sign might consider initially tagging it as access=private, only later changing it to access=permit after researching the permit situation.

This would also apply to facilities signposted as "booking required" where they are ordinarily granted if not already booked at the requested timeslot.

Permits with additional requirements

The original proposal limited permit to permits that are required but that are routinely granted to anyone who asks or applies for one. However, the value was soon skunked for more restrictive permitting schemes, some of which are also covered by access=private. As of October 2025, about 1% of occurrences of access=permit use permit=* to clarify the kind of permit required (see Iterative refinement).

Some permits are not routinely granted, are limited to a quota per year, or impose nontrivial additional requirements, such as a waiting period or significant fees. For example, the sign pictured at the top of this article indicates the requirement to apply for a permit at least 14 days ahead of a visit. [1] For this reason, navigation systems should warn the user of the requirement and should not use any access=permit way as a through route to a different destination.

A proposal would use access=private private=exceptional_permit when the required permit is only granted on an exceptional basis to those who have a legitimate reason.

See also

• access=customers