On 20 April 2012 09:42, Peter Rounce <pe...@rounce.me.uk> wrote: > I am new to OSM and mapping but have an interest in rights of way - > particularly unsurfaced roads. These are generally referred to as > byways, ORPAs, UCRs . I see that the OSM data has some of these, > but possibly only 10% to 20% coverage. > > There are a few things I'd like to do to improve this.
I'm interested in improving OSMs Public Rights of Way coverage too. :) > (2) Update designation='public_byway' to > designation='byway_open_to_all_traffic' or designation='restricted_byway' as > appropriate > Perhaps a FIXME tag on designation='public_byway' would be useful - any > advice on this welcome. I would guess that almost all designation=public_byway tags [1] should be designation=byway_open_to_all_traffic . I think it's very unlikely that a Restricted Byway would get tagged that way. Maybe we should consider an automated re-tagging of these, perhaps with the addition of a fixme tag to ask mapper verify the new designation tag... Less obvious is what to do with the 90-ish designation=byway tags [2]. Again these are probably going to be BOATs, but were tagged like that because the signs often just say "Byway". I guess there's slightly more change they're RBs, so I'd probably not recommend an automated change here. We also have a few designation=unknown_byway tagged ways [3]. Perhaps the designation=byway ones should be converted to this, with a fixme added to ask mappers to resurvey them. > (3) Use council definitive statements to update the data semi-automatically > as I understand the licensing may be ok. The IP in the Definitive Map and Statements will belong jointly to Ordnance Survey and the Council / Local Authority that produced them. Ordnance Survey have said their don't claim any IP in the Definitive Statement [4], so if (and only if) you obtain the Council's permission to use it for OSM then you can make use of the Definitive Statement. (Though not the Definitive Map since that contains IP belonging to OS, which we don't have permission to use.) We now have a standard open data license from the Government -- The Open Government License (OGL) [5] -- which is explicitly compatible with CC-By-SA and ODbL. It should therefore be simple to ask the council if you can make use of their Definitive Statement under OGL. (When I tried getting permission from a couple of councils before OGL existed, it proved rather difficult as the Council person didn't really understand OSM, and all their existing re-use arrangements centred on people wanting to make verbatim copies of documents, rather than the re-use of information/data. The councils were also concerned about OSM misleading people as to what were and weren't public rights of way. But things should be much easier now with the OGL.) My experience is that the descriptions of the routes in the Definitive Statements are quite variable. Depending on the council (and in some cases the parish within the council) the descriptions may or may not be that useful in working out which ways on OSM they correspond to. They're generally some use though, and you can often pair them up with OSM tracks by a process of elimination. Where I have been able to work out a path in OSM from a definitive statement, I've added a ref=* tag of the form "[parish] [code] [number]" where [code] is one of "FP", "BR", "RB" or "BY". See [6] for example. There's also an issue with obtaining copies of the definitive statements. Some councils have them on the web in a nice form. Others don't even have an electronic copy. Legally you are always be able to inspect a hard copy at the Council's offices somewhere. If there is an electronic copy, you should be able to obtain it using either the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental Information Regulations (similar to FOI, but with stronger provisions for the public when environmental information is requested) [7]. If you're making a request, I'd recommend using the excellent "What Do They Know" website [8]. Maybe we could have a wiki page with a list of authorities, links to the Definitive Statement where available, details of requests made where not, and whether permission to re-use the information has been requested and/or granted. > (4) Create more knowledge/clarity on tagging UCRs/ORPAs/unsurfaced roads. > I am trying to understand the optimum tagging from the OSM KB here, and > update/collate this. We probably shouldn't be using "ORPA" in OSM as this is an OS-specific term, that AFAIK only exists on their maps. For these routes I'd suggest following the advice in the OS map key and checking on the route's status with the local highways department. For each one I've checked, it's turned out that it's technically an Unclassified Public Highway, though the surface is not maintained and is usually unmetalled, so the route isn't really suitable for non-4x4 motor vehicles. I've therefore tagged these as highway=track (rather than highway=unclassified) and added a designation=unclassified_highway to record the legal status, along with appropriate pedestrian, horse and bicycle access tags to allow routers to make use of them more easily. Finally if you're interested in Public Rights of Way and Countryside mapping in OSM, there are a few useful links and a report on designation=* tags in OSM linked from my page at http://robert.mathmos.net/osm/prow/ Best wishes, Robert. [1] http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/designation=public_byway [2] http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/designation=byway [3] http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/designation=unknown_byway [4] http://blog.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/2010/04/os-opendata-goes-live/#comment-58 [5] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ [6] http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/100132078 [7] http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/official_information/how_access.aspx [8] http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/ -- Robert Whittaker _______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
