Public Rights of Way mapping is one of my OSM hobbies, and I've done quite a bit in my local area of Norfolk and Suffolk. I've also put together a tool to compare OSM coverage with official (OGL-licensed) data from the two councils: http://robert.mathmos.net/osm/prow/progress/ . (As an aside, I'd be happy to add other GIS data to the tool if/when it is available under a suitable licence and I have time.)
Since this topic has come up, I thought I'd share my current practices for mapping Rights of Way, particularly where the actual route on the ground differs from the legal Definitive Line. I use a range of tags on Rights of Way and de facto paths: * highway=* to record the physical state of the route. I'd typically use highway=path for an indistinct cross-field path whose route is nevertheless obvious from signs/stiles. I use highway=no on ways on the definitive line that are obstructed, i.e. there isn't a 'highway' of any sort present and the route isn't used in practice. (To omit the highway tag completely could look like an error, and means there's no way to distinguish between a way that's been surveyed and found not to be a highway, and one that hasn't been surveyed yet.) * designation=* to record the official status of a route -- one of public_footpath, public_bridleway, restricted_byway, byway_open_to_all_traffic for PRoWs. I'd only use this on the Definitive Line. If the actual route used on the ground differs, the used route get this tag. I don't think that an erroneous sign on the ground confers PRoW status. If an unrecorded route is being (or could be) claimed, then suspected:designation=* can be used. * prow_ref=* to record the right of way parish and number, e.g. prow_ref=Dibley FP 1. (This can then be used by tools checking on PRoW mapping progress.) * foot=*, horse=*, etc. used to indicated legal access rights on a route. I use *=designated for the main forms of transport on the definitive line (see https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Rjw62/PRoW_Table ). Where the Definitive Line isn't accessible, and there's a reasonable alternative route to take, I'll typically tag the latter with *=yes, since AFAIK there is a legal right to take a reasonable diversion in this case (though technically only if it's on the same land-owner's property). * foot:physical=*, etc. to tag the physical accessibility if this differs from the legal rights. e.g. foot=designated + foot:physical=no on a Definitive Line that's blocked. * prow:obstructed=yes as a tentatively suggested machine-readable tag for ways on the definitive line that aren't accessible. * note=* to record a human-readable note to explain any special situations. * source:*=* to record the source of Definitive Lines and other PRoW information. So where a route follows the Definitive Line, I'd tag the way with something like: highway=track designation=public_footpath prow_ref=Dibley FP 2 foot=designated source:prow_ref=oxfordshire_county_council_prow_gis_data If a section is obstructed, with an alternative route available around the obstruction, I'd create a way for each bit on this section and tag the two bits along the following lines: highway=path foot=yes note=Reasonable diversion to avoid obstruction on Dibley FP 2 highway=no designation=public_footpath prow_ref=Dibley FP 2 foot=designated foot:physical=no prow:obstructed=yes source=oxfordshire_county_council_prow_gis_data;survey note=Definitive Line, but obstructed by deep ditch and impassible Doing this records the actual route that people can and do use (thus helping routers and mapping what is actually on the ground) and also maps the legal situation including legal access rights and PRoW number. I hope some of these ideas are useful to people, Robert. -- Robert Whittaker _______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
