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This is great. When I was looking for my missing cat I discovered so many hidden trails in my borough that was just amazing. For example a gap between two resid

This is great. When I was looking for my missing cat I discovered so many hidden trails in my borough that was just amazing. For example a gap between two residential homes I thought it leads to someone's garden but actually it was a quite long public footpath with signs of homeless people camping on it. I also found two abandoned properties that I wouldn't see in Google Maps. One of which was totally overgrown with bushes, weeds and someone even left a half of the car there. Then I found an article that the owner of the site was ordered to clear it, but that it seems has never happened. Cat returned a few days later.

arethuza 6y ago
I found OpenStreetMap invaluable for places to walk during the lockdown earlier this year - it has a lot of paths that aren't on OS maps at all.
- Angostura 6y ago
  If they aren't on OS, they probably aren't public rights of way. OS is definitive.
  - arethuza 6y ago
    I'm in Scotland - I don't think that applies to the same extent. I should note that most of the footpaths around here were built by the farmers who own the land! "While in England and Wales, highway authorities have a duty to maintain legally recognised maps of rights of way, in Scotland different legislation applies and there is no legally recognised record of rights of way." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_way#Scotland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_way#Scotland I do a lot of walking in Scotland and I've never paid any attention to whether a path is described as a "Right of Way" or not - mostly it seems of historical interest for places like the wonderful "Jock's Road": https://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/pathdetails.php?path=38 https://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/pathdetails.php?path=38
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - gnufx 6y ago
    As I understand from chekcing how to do it, designations in Openstreetmap are supposed to be done on the basis of signs on the ground and verifying the route by walking it (combined with local authority reference data, which I understand is definitive). If someone has taken an interest, the paths (and other features) in an area are likely to be in a better state in OSM than an OS map from some years ago, and possibly better than the master OS data. (Obviously mileage varies -- though one hopes not far outside GPS or satellite imagery tolerances.) I guess the place to start is https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Access_provisions_in_the_United_Kingdom#Public_Rights_of_Way https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Access_provisions_in_the...
    - 0xffff2 6y ago
      What is "OS" in this context?
      - jonatron 6y ago
        Ordnance Survey
  - jimnotgym 6y ago
    OS is certainly not definitive, although they are very good. 1) There is a disclaimer on OS maps that says so 2) The definitive map is held by local councils 3) A right of way can exist without registration, and is created through use. The medieval alley ways in my local town only recently became registered after hundreds of years of use. They were always rights of way and you could not have prevented their use. 4) There is a right to roam in Scotland and a limited right to some land in England and Wales under CROW Act.
- nicbou 6y ago
  I was about to mention it. I habitually use OsmAnd+ to spot interesting paths in my city. I have found the coolest places this way.
saagarjha 6y ago
A few years ago I learned that Rancho San Antonio has an extension that goes all the way up to a couple hundred feet of my house, accessible by an unmarked, easy to miss little trail at the west end of Stevens Creek: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3223461,-122.0789312,3a,75y,10.46h,83.49t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdIFnvj97r7o7ydUBdv0Y4Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3223461,-122.0789312,3a,75y,.... It leads the Hammond-Snyder Loop Trail (which hasn't been much of a loop for years–it's been closed for a watershed project that should've ended a while ago) which is a nice way to get to Anza Knoll, which is not all that tall but has a pretty good view of the valley (a more obvious way to access it is on the other side of Cristo Rey Drive). If you follow the train tracks it goes past a culvert for Stevens Creek under I-280 next to which seems to be the local hangout spot for teenagers–it's heavily graffitied (unlike any other part of Cupertino I have seen) and it looks like someone's constructed a sort of BMX park out of the dirt. And this is just from me walking in an ~2 mile radius in the suburbs! There's a whole lot of cool things you can find while walking that no online mapping service will cover.
rwmj 6y ago
During lockdown we discovered many walks that I'd not found in 10 years of living here. I also dug out my paper OS map of the area which is more complete than online references.

arethuza 6y ago

I found OpenStreetMap invaluable for places to walk during the lockdown earlier this year - it has a lot of paths that aren't on OS maps at all.

Angostura 6y ago
If they aren't on OS, they probably aren't public rights of way. OS is definitive.
- arethuza 6y ago
  I'm in Scotland - I don't think that applies to the same extent. I should note that most of the footpaths around here were built by the farmers who own the land! "While in England and Wales, highway authorities have a duty to maintain legally recognised maps of rights of way, in Scotland different legislation applies and there is no legally recognised record of rights of way." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_way#Scotland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_way#Scotland I do a lot of walking in Scotland and I've never paid any attention to whether a path is described as a "Right of Way" or not - mostly it seems of historical interest for places like the wonderful "Jock's Road": https://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/pathdetails.php?path=38 https://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/pathdetails.php?path=38
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- gnufx 6y ago
  As I understand from chekcing how to do it, designations in Openstreetmap are supposed to be done on the basis of signs on the ground and verifying the route by walking it (combined with local authority reference data, which I understand is definitive). If someone has taken an interest, the paths (and other features) in an area are likely to be in a better state in OSM than an OS map from some years ago, and possibly better than the master OS data. (Obviously mileage varies -- though one hopes not far outside GPS or satellite imagery tolerances.) I guess the place to start is https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Access_provisions_in_the_United_Kingdom#Public_Rights_of_Way https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Access_provisions_in_the...
  - 0xffff2 6y ago
    What is "OS" in this context?
    - jonatron 6y ago
      Ordnance Survey
- jimnotgym 6y ago
  OS is certainly not definitive, although they are very good. 1) There is a disclaimer on OS maps that says so 2) The definitive map is held by local councils 3) A right of way can exist without registration, and is created through use. The medieval alley ways in my local town only recently became registered after hundreds of years of use. They were always rights of way and you could not have prevented their use. 4) There is a right to roam in Scotland and a limited right to some land in England and Wales under CROW Act.
nicbou 6y ago
I was about to mention it. I habitually use OsmAnd+ to spot interesting paths in my city. I have found the coolest places this way.

saagarjha 6y ago

A few years ago I learned that Rancho San Antonio has an extension that goes all the way up to a couple hundred feet of my house, accessible by an unmarked, easy to miss little trail at the west end of Stevens Creek: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3223461,-122.0789312,3a,75y,10.46h,83.49t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sdIFnvj97r7o7ydUBdv0Y4Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3223461,-122.0789312,3a,75y,.... It leads the Hammond-Snyder Loop Trail (which hasn't been much of a loop for years–it's been closed for a watershed project that should've ended a while ago) which is a nice way to get to Anza Knoll, which is not all that tall but has a pretty good view of the valley (a more obvious way to access it is on the other side of Cristo Rey Drive). If you follow the train tracks it goes past a culvert for Stevens Creek under I-280 next to which seems to be the local hangout spot for teenagers–it's heavily graffitied (unlike any other part of Cupertino I have seen) and it looks like someone's constructed a sort of BMX park out of the dirt. And this is just from me walking in an ~2 mile radius in the suburbs! There's a whole lot of cool things you can find while walking that no online mapping service will cover.

rwmj 6y ago

During lockdown we discovered many walks that I'd not found in 10 years of living here. I also dug out my paper OS map of the area which is more complete than online references.