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Now, if only there was a project to deliver freely licensed maps of the world... Let's call it, idk, OpenStreetMap? Sounds cool :^)
by rathel 6y ago
Now, if only there was a project to deliver freely licensed maps of the world... Let's call it, idk, OpenStreetMap? Sounds cool :^)
- chrisseaton 6y agoMost people in the United Kingdom would be using Ordnance Survey. Also, I think Ordnance Survey's record of the use of these footpaths has significant weight in keeping them legally protected. So Ordnance Survey is the best tool here.
- Doctor_Fegg 6y agoExcept OS data is surprisingly badly suited to this. OS doesn't have a topological (=connected, routable) database of public rights of way. The green lines you see drawn on a Landranger map are just that: lines on a map. I don't need to explain how having a routable database would make a project like Slow Ways so much simpler. OS, of course, doesn't have accessibility information like stiles, gates, or surface quality, which OSM often has. I love OS maps, but they are increasingly being marginalised to B2B applications (particularly utilities) and keen walkers. Most UK cyclists have migrated to OSM and, judging from people I see out and about here in the Cotswolds, casual walkers are increasingly going that way too.
- arethuza 6y agoOS maps are invaluable for wilder areas (e.g. Scottish Highlands) but they seem pretty poor compared to OSM for low level walks here in Fife. The don't show a lot of paths, paths they do show don't really exist and often they show narrow paths as tracks. Another weird thing that happens on OS maps is that some paths are shown on 1:50,000 maps but not on 1:25000!
- topbanana 6y agoIn fact each county maintains its own 'definitive map' of public rights of way. That's how they're protected. This is mine https://explorer.geowessex.com/?layers=48&basemap=26 https://explorer.geowessex.com/?layers=48&basemap=26 Definitive maps https://www.ramblers.org.uk/advice/paths-in-england-and-wales/definitive-maps-explained.aspx https://www.ramblers.org.uk/advice/paths-in-england-and-wale...
- chrisseaton 6y agoBut look at how you get footpaths to be legally protected, and how you get them protected again after they're been forgotten, and how to protect new ones - using evidence from reputable archive sources like Ordnance Survey - that's how they argue these cases. You're showing me the result - I'm telling you how that gets achieved in practice. You can read more about it here from a relevant group https://www.ramblers.org.uk/-/media/Resources/Volunteer%20resources/Protecting%20and%20expanding%20where%20we%20walk%20toolkit/lostways_20150311110454.ashx?la=en&hash=BC516FDB5FA99B32271DEF392719481F https://www.ramblers.org.uk/-/media/Resources/Volunteer%20re...
- dazzawazza 6y agoFor those who don't know, the Rambler Association has been fighting for new and ancient foot paths and "rights to roam" for 90 years in the UK. England in particular has a long and complex history of land being gifted by royalty and clergy to sycophants leading to the rest of us being screwed over for literally a thousand years! Green and pleasant land indeed!
- adwww 6y agoI don't disagree, and the opaqueness of land ownership here is a real problem. That said, England does have a fantastically extensive network of public footpaths. It's really something you don't appreciate until you go somewhere without such a network.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ascorbic 6y agoThe OS maps include all legally-designated public rights of way, and some permissive paths. It doesn't show if they're passable, safe or easy to use.
- dTal 6y agoMost regrettably, Ordnance Survey isn't free.
- g_p 6y agoAn awful lot of OS data is actually available directly from them under the open government licence in recent years. Recently they added their UPRN (unique property reference number) database and some other ones. OpenMap Local and OpenZoomstack are both available as open data, and give an awful lot of what most people are looking for when it comes to map data.
- ascorbic 6y agoOSM shows all of the paths. It doesn't say which are the best ones to use.
- adrianN 6y agoOSM has a lot of metadata about the paths that could be used to indicate which ones are best.
- johnjreiser 6y agoExactly this. The metadata is flexible and OSM could readily support a quality assessment within a "slowways" namespace.
- gnufx 6y agoOSM is noticeable by absence of any mention I can see on the web site, sadly, and it's not even clear the data will be licensed compatibly. (The OSM UK mail list demonstrates the obsession^Wcare which at least some contributors devote to mapping.)