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I have a complicated metes-and-bounds description of a boundary (start at this point, go foo feet at an angle of bar degrees, etc.). Is there any way to get this into OSM without calculating the latitude and longitude of each point individually?

asked 07 Aug '10, 19:04

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NE2
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edited 07 Aug '10, 19:04


To represent this in a logical way in OSM you have to convert it to coordinates one way or another. If the dataset is big it might be worth the effort to make a script to do this for you.

For small datasets you could use JOSM. When drawing a way JOSM displays the distance and heading of the line segment in the lower part of the screen.

But remember that the accuracy might not be as you hope for the data. Distances are often measured in true distance, taking into account hills, while distance in OSM mostly does not take hills into account. The heading is often written in compass heading witch especially in high latitude situations might be different from the true north heading used in OSM. Old descriptions might also suffer from magnetic pole wobbling.

But not be warned off from importing the data into OSM as bad data is better then no data in many occasions. And a low accuracy import is a great help for mappers in the area.

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answered 08 Aug '10, 06:21

Gnonthgol's gravatar image

Gnonthgol ♦
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accept rate: 16%

"For small datasets you could use JOSM. When drawing a way JOSM displays the distance and heading of the line segment in the lower part of the screen." Yes, that's useful for one or two lines, but infeasible for 500 :)

"But remember that the accuracy..." This is from 1994 in flat swamp:

(08 Aug '10, 12:28) NE2

Unless the surveyor is Doing It Wrong, distances are measured "flat earth" style; using true north. Coincidentally, I hate trying to chain something when there's a hill in the way...

(09 Aug '10, 07:59) Baloo Uriza

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question asked: 07 Aug '10, 19:04

question was seen: 7,505 times

last updated: 09 Aug '10, 08:00

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum