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Hi all, I'm commenting from Kent South east england ( UK ) and I've noticed a lot of missing public rights of way and footpaths on the OSM map. I'm using the notes function to pin them on the map - I have been mentioning they can be seen on the kent county council public right of way map and OS maps, but it occurred to me this might involve copyright issues. Would it be better just to pin a note saying "Footpath AT154 missing here " or something similiar ? |
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In general I'd agree with both Teek and SomeoneElse, the best way is to add them yourself: it can be a very rewarding way of planning walks which take you to less-frequented places. A modern mobile phone is probably plenty good enough for capturing GPS traces. The good news is that for Kent you can also use some official data (see below). General experience of mapping PRoWs on OpenstreetMap is that actual paths may diverge significantly from the definitive line marked on OS maps or on Highway Authority Maps, or in extremis the path is no longer exists or is unusable. So we can be more useful for walkers. Additionally a survey allows capturing of a lot of extra data, particularly stiles, gates etc. As you say there are copyright issues in using existing Ordnance Survey mapping. However Kent CC have released their PRoW data in a form usable in OSM editors, see here. The on-line editor iD supports this as an overlay layer. The image below shows an area around Tutt Hill & Hothfield Common (I did a small amount of mapping there in Sept 2016): green lines represent public footpaths from the definitive map, the OSM ways are paths & footways (larger image here). Note that often the surveyed line diverges from the definitive line (e.g., AW 129 follows the field edge, AW54 peters out because I could find no waymarks, AW127 was not signed from the A20 & the first gate was locked, etc.)
So this data is usable in the editor as it stands, but really needs to be done in combination with walking the route (either as suggested with a mobile phone, or with a notepad or digital camera to capture useful features). Obviously you probably have decent local knowledge of paths in your own area, but be aware that actual surveying often shows one's memory is not quite as good as one thought. PS. I've written a few blog posts on footpath mapping, which may possibly be of interest. Thank you, I'm going for a phone upgrade soon that should allow me to do some of this stuff. The fact that I have the technological ability of a brain damaged slug may be a problem but I'll just have to spent some time learning how to do stuff. This PROW release is really handy I had no idea they'd done this. I use the Kent PROW map all the time for planning walks.
(12 Apr '22, 07:03)
Clivefromkent
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Hi ClivefromKent, there is a simple answer on your question or problem, go out and survey using a GPS the paths your question includes. And contribute them into OSM, thank you in advance. Ask this problem at the local groups of OSM to hear what could be the problem before you start to survey. OSM is the most or best map made by surveying the outside world by local mappers, walking outdoors. That's something I do intend to start doing at some point , time and responsibilities permitting, but to return to my original question by mentioning they can be seen on other maps am I causing copyright problems ? Please note I'm not copying from other maps just mentioning they appear there.
(10 Apr '22, 13:30)
Clivefromkent
I don’t see an issue mentioning in a note that a trail exists on another map: You are not copying the data. If a mapper later copied that data into OSM then it would be a problem. But if you want to totally avoid the issue, then adding notes of the form "Footpath AT154 missing here" also gets the message across about what is missing so a later mapper can add it using proper data collection techniques.
(10 Apr '22, 14:24)
n76
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Thank you, I'm rather old school - don't own a GPS device. Plan my maps on Plotaroute, county right of way maps etc and go walking with paper maps. But I like the idea of Plotaroute, I like the idea of OpenStreetMap and thought " what can I do to contribute ?, well if nothing else I can flag up problems, missing paths etc and those with better technical knowledge and equipment can look into it " I just don't want to cause any hassles for people further down the line
(10 Apr '22, 15:24)
Clivefromkent
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If you have a phone, you can use that with something like https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSMTracker_(Android) .
(10 Apr '22, 15:26)
SomeoneElse ♦
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