[Talk-ca] OSM

[Frank Steggink]

Alan Philip wrote:
> Hello, Frank:
>
> My name is Alan Philip. I am a retired cartographer currently living in
> Duncan, BC. Sam Vekemans has forwarded to you an email from another OSM
> mapper (Dr. Brian Grady) who has been in touch with me about trail maps
> I have made in the Victoria area when I lived there. I have those trails
> in a GIS and am willing to make them available to the public.
>
> I am wondering, first of all, what classification system OSM uses for
> trails, so that I can match it. Secondly, what is the process for
> getting data into OSM? I have joined OSM but have not been able to get
> down to any meetings in Victoria.
>
> I have a friend who has also done a lot of trail mapping west of
> Victoria who would probably be interested in this.
>
> Most of my mapping was done by compass and pacing, with the occasional
> GPS tie in openings, so I do not have GPS traces. I just bought a better
> GPS so I am now doing trail mapping using that in the Duncan area.
>
> Cheers,
> Alan Philip
>   

Hello Alan,

Thank you for showing your interest in OpenStreetMap. First of all I 
would like to express that there is actually not a single person in 
charge responsible for organizing all data in Canada. OSM is a community 
effort, so it would have been more appropriate if you were redirected to 
the talk-ca list. Many people are following this list, all with their 
own unique skills and interests, but with a common goal of making OSM a 
freely accessible repository of geospatial data. In case you haven't 
already subscribed to the talk-ca list, it can be done here: [1].

Anyways, here are some answers for your questions. The core 
classification system can be found on the Map Features page in the wiki: 
[2]. This classification system is not fixed, so if a particular feature 
type isn't well represented, it is possible to add your own tags. This 
is a rather large difference from classical GIS systems, which have 
strict feature definitions with a fixed set of properties. However, over 
time consensus grows for many different feature types, and those are 
listed on the Map Features page. A single tag consists of a key with a 
value.

As you see, there are multiple options. One possible option is 
highway=track. These are predominantly used for roads for agricultural 
or forestry usage. It is possible to tell something about the track 
quality with the tracktype tag. Another option is highway=footway. This 
tag is more intended to be used an urban environment, like parks, 
footpaths, etc. Furthermore there is highway=path which is more intended 
in a rural setting. The precise details can be found on the MapFeatures 
page. If a name is available, the 'name' tag can be used. There are also 
several tags available if the trails are a part of certain routes, or 
they have special designations (like a trail number). Eventually a 
relation can be used, which is a method to combine nodes and ways, for 
example to form a route.

Regarding your second question: if the data is already available in a 
popular GIS format, then it is possible to convert this to an OSM file. 
This is the internal data format of OSM Such a file can be opened by 
JOSM [3], which is an OSM editor. If there are attributes alongside it 
(like the name, etc.), they can be made available too. In what GIS 
format is the data actually stored? If it is not in a popular GIS 
format, it might be necessary that the data is converted first to one of 
the more popular formats like SHP, and after that the data can be 
converted to OSM format. Once this has happened, and the proper tags 
have been set, this data can be uploaded with JOSM. Can I ask how much 
data you have? And is it possible make a sample available?

Finally I would like to remind you that the copyright of the data is an 
important issue. If maps, aerials or other data sources have been 
involved in creating this data, which has a license which is 
incompatible with OSM (currently CC-BY-SA), then I'm afraid that it 
can't be used. Judging from your description (the data is all coming 
from you), this likely isn't the case. Since NRCan has given us 
permission to load their data into OSM (the Geobase / Canvec import 
processes), it is no problem if their maps have been used.

About meetings in Victoria and surroundings: I'm not well familiar with 
those, since I'm living in Quebec myself. There are several mappers from 
Vancouver Island subscribed to this list. They can get in touch with you 
in order to attend any local meetings. Several of them have listed 
themselves on the wiki: [4]. There is even a separate city page for 
Duncan: [5], listing another local mapper.

Cheers,

Frank Steggink

[1] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca
[2] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Map_features
[3] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/JOSM
[4] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Canada:British_Columbia
[5] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Canada:British_Columbia:Duncan