[OSM-newbies] The London Loop - Sections 15 to 23

[Someoneelse]

Jason Cunningham wrote:
 > The questions asked by Charles are relevant.
...
> Maps of paths are a real weakness in other available 
> maps and should be a strength of OSM.

Agreed - but mapping hedgerows is hard work!  I had a go at capturing 
some of that sort of information locally, but unless you're 100% 
familiar with how stuff is and isn't rendered it's not always obvious 
what's going on.  For example here:

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.17943&lon=-1.37553&zoom=17&layers=B000FTF

there's a mobile phone mast in the middle of the map which isn't shown, 
and (as has already been mentioned) Mapnik doesn't show stiles by 
default.  The bridge and steps up to the field are clear if (a) you zoom 
in and (b) you're familiar with Mapnik.

Personally I think that the levels at which Mapnik shows e.g. hedges is 
actually about right, and if the LOOP PDF maps had hedgerows on them at 
their current scale, they'd look a mess.

I think that this:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51.446&lon=0.1643&zoom=14&layers=B000FTF

corresponds to "loop 1 map.pdf" page 3 from here:
http://www.walklondon.org.uk/section.asp?section=1

(there's actually been a lot more detail added to OSM since the LOOP PDF 
maps were created, by the looks of it)

The ability to show hedges and fences will really make sense when 
everyone walking paths such as the LOOP is carrying a phone or other 
device capable of displaying local maps at a reasonable zoom level, but 
that may be a year or two yet.