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I have uploaded several GPX traces along the Pacific Crest trail in California, Oregon, and Washington. When I download OSM and GPX for areas to edit many traces show up and generally agree within normal GPS resolution. Additionally there is a GPX "trace" from 2010 that appears to be a conversion of the USGS trail line along the route rather than an actual GPS trace. In many places this very smooth line is off by up to 100m. See this location: (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/44.64588/-121.83094&layers=G) How can we get this questionable data removed?

asked 20 Jul '20, 16:55

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Palolo
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edited 20 Jul '20, 16:56

I presume you're talking about the one that follows closest to the trail as it exists in OSM?

Why do you think it is questionable? It looks like it could be legitimate to me. I'd want to know what sort of GPS was used to record the trace so I could buy a similar one.

(20 Jul '20, 23:01) AlaskaDave

Negative, I'm talking about the one that follows the lines on the USGS quad and is different than the majority of the traces in that area which are close to the line in OSM. I have worked with GPS data for decades and have never seen a track that smooth.

(21 Jul '20, 00:45) Palolo

Your best (but extremely slim) chance is to ask the mapper that added it https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/UberHiker/diary to remove it.

Outside of that I would suggest simply ignoring it, the GPX tracks are not gospel and anybody using them should be aware of that.

permanent link

answered 21 Jul '20, 11:34

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SimonPoole ♦
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accept rate: 18%

For completeness it's also worth mentioning that removing traces from OSM won't remove them from e.g. the tiles made with GPS data that are available in iD et al. I don't believe that there's a way that anything external to OSM can see when something like this is deleted.

(21 Jul '20, 12:36) SomeoneElse ♦

Thanks Simon, I have been ignoring the trace for a few years. Others may not understand the issue. I'll reach out to UberHiker.

(21 Jul '20, 18:26) Palolo

@SomeoneElse Thanks, I think the issue is more with JOSM than iD. I suppose eventually as the tiles are regenerated a removed trace would go away?

(21 Jul '20, 18:55) Palolo
1

Currently there is no mechanism which removes traces for the database that holds them for rendering the GPX layer. It is conceivable that one day there might be a complete new import or somebody redoes the whole thing (any volunteers?), but outside of that the track is not going to go away in the rendering.

(21 Jul '20, 19:04) SimonPoole ♦

@SimonPoole - I took a look at the GPS traces uploaded by UberHiker and find them to be reasonable, especially given that they are 13 years old. This user is not the source of the traces I am questioning.

(22 Jul '20, 20:19) Palolo

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question asked: 20 Jul '20, 16:55

question was seen: 1,016 times

last updated: 22 Jul '20, 20:19

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