[Talk-GB] OS VectorMap water feature import

[Richard Mann]

If the conclusion is that there's no point importing OS VMD water features
into OSM...

Would it make more sense to extract the water features and convert them
into a standalone osm.pbf, so they can be used as-is to make a background
layer (warts-and-all)?

Richard

On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 7:45 PM, Graham Jones <grahamjones139 at gmail.com>wrote:

> On 11 December 2011 18:46, Tim François <sk1ppy14 at yahoo.co.uk>
>
>> The entire process took a long, long time (we're talking many hours), as
>> the OS data is all fragmented and needs joining up.
>>
>> This is one where it is certainly possible to import the data, but to do
> it manually is going to be a huge amount of effort, and I wonder if it is
> really worth the effort?
>
> I see the main benefit of OSM in providing 'added value' geographic data
> that is not available in other freely available sources.   Last time I made
> a map of an outdoor area, I found that the OS Vector Map District (VMD)
> water features added a lot to it, because the OSM data was pretty plain.
> In the end I actually made the map from a mixture of OSM and VMD Data, with
> SRTM generated contours.
> I certainly used OSM footpaths and route relations (because they are not
> in any of the other data sets) - as I wanted to highlight a walking route.
>
> I used VMD waterways because they were far more complete than OSM.
> I think that for the area I was working on (Weardale) I used VMD roads
> too, because there are still a lot missing from OSM.
>
> Where I struggled was in woodland areas - you get a lot more if you use
> VMD, but I also know that quite a lot have been felled, which can be
> changed in OSM, but not VMD, so this was a difficult choice.   (You can see
> the output here<https://github.com/jones139/Mapnik-OSM-Styles/raw/master/weardale_way/image_vmd_fc.png> (but
> there is something wrong with the grid on the version on that server,
> sorry!....and the rendering style is not as pretty as the main OSM one).
>
> I wonder if a more productive use of our efforts would be in developing
> tools to make it easier to make such merged data maps and highlight the
> 'value added' bits from OSM that make it stand out from a Land Ranger map?
>    [Things like showing all the industrial archeology, real ale pubs etc.].
>
> I am working (very slowly) on a tool that will pull together the required
> data to produce these sort of things and render it at high resolution for
> printing.    It is not at the sort of state that I would publish it and
> recommend that someone just tries it (no nice front end), but it is getting
> there and I can make maps from it when I want to.  I would be happy to put
> more effort into it if there was interest (or anyone interested in
> helping!).
>
> One final thing is that if we do say that we will not import the VMD data
> into OSM, this means that it will not appear on the main OSM web site map.
>   We could show off what is possible though by making a 'osm-uk' site with
> a web map that combines the various data sources in a web map?
>
> Regards
>
>
> Graham.
> --
> Graham Jones
> Hartlepool, UK.
>
>
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