I spent part of yesterday navigating the relevant OS and LandRegistry
sites and trying to figure out what we can do.
We can basically put UPRN and USRN into OSM freely - the license is
written to enable that. OS have also separated out the ability to match
UPRN and USRN to address and street records - essentially they are
creating an index into their MasterMap products which are behind a
paywall. So anybody who wants to pay - possibly Logistics companies -
can find exactly where their van has to go, more accurate than a postcode.
OS also seem to have been careful not to place UPRN and USRN data into
their other free products so as to make cross referencing difficult.
There was a reference to £1000 worth of data being made free each month
to individual users - can't find out how this works yet. This may allow
us as individuals to populate OSM and OSM essentially aggregates the
data - rather like postcode data. I am researching the site to find out
how this works.
OS have also made maps downloadable as images 'OS OpenMap Local' - I did
OS square SD, this provides a map picture, I checked out a new housing
estate and it has the street names - not currently in OSM (haven't put
them in yet). So the OS data is useful. For that SD square they provide
hundreds of files based on their method of 10km map references with 4
sections per 10 km - NW,NE,SW,SE. Not easy to use, an overlay of
sections is required. This is updated regularly so can replace OS Open
Data Streetview which I believe to be no longer updated.
Leaving aside the philosophy of what is an address - a UPRN in OSM will
allow users such as logistics companies to accurately plan their routes.
Logistics companies can be encouraged to add UPRN's and addresses and
continue to use OSM freely.
Regards
TonyS999
On 02/07/2020 17:38, Robert Whittaker (OSM lists) wrote:
I'm not completely sure if/how we can best make use of the new OS
OpenData (UPRNs, USRNs and related links) in OpenStreetMap, but as a
first step I've set up a quick slippy map with the UPRN locations
shown:
https://osm.mathmos.net/addresses/uprn/ (zoom in to level 16 to show the data)
The UPRN dataset literally just contains the UPRN number and its
coordinates (both OS National Grid and WGS lat/lon). There are some
additional linking datasets that link these ids to other ids (e.g.
USRNs, TOIDs). But no address information is available directly. (You
may be able to get street names by matching to OS Open Roads via TOIDs
though. Coupled with Code-Point Open, you might be able to assign
quite a few postcodes in cases where there's only one unit for a whole
street.)
The UPRN data has already helped me find a mapping error I made
locally though -- it looks like I'd accidentally missed drawing a
house outline from aerial imagery, and also classified a large garage
a few doors down as a house. The two errors cancelled out when the
houses were numbered sequentially, so I didn't notice until now. Today
though I spotted a UPRN marker over some blank space on the map, and
no marker over the mapped house that's probably a garage.
Now a few initial thoughts on the data that I've explored so far:
I believe that the UPRNs are assigned by local authorities, so
conventions may vary from place to place. I don't know who actually
assigns the coordinates (authority or OS). Looking at those for rows
of houses around me, they don't seem to have been automatically given
coordinates from the house footprint, it looks more like someone
manually clicking on a map.
The UPRN dataset should include all addressable properties. It is also
ahead of reality in some places, as it includes locations for houses
on a new development near me that have yet to be built yet. For blocks
of apartments/flats, the UPRN nodes may all have the same coordinates
or may be displaced from each other, possibly in an artificial manner.
Other objects also appear to have UPRNs. Likely things I've noticed so
far include: car parks, post boxes, telephone boxes (even after
they've been removed), electricity sub-stations, roads and recorded
footpaths (the UPRN locations seem to be at one end of the street, so
usually lie at a junction), recreation grounds / play areas,
floodlight poles (around sports pitches), and allotments. There's no
information about the object type in the UPRN data unfortunately.
Anyway, I hope some of this is useful / interesting. I hope to be on
the OSMUK call on Saturday to discuss things further. Best wishes,
Robert.
_______________________________________________
Talk-GB mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
