[Talk-GB] Footpath Open Data is not always accurate.

Colin Smale colin.smale at xs4all.nl
Mon Feb 6 11:18:43 UTC 2017


On 2017-02-06 09:57, Dave F wrote:

> On 05/02/2017 11:33, Colin Smale wrote:
> 
>> Any paths that no longer follow the official route (as per the DM/DS) should not be tagged as PROW and probably as access=permissive unless they go across otherwise public land. The official route is still a public right of way, it's just no longer usable as such.
> 
> We should be mapping what's on the ground, as PROW signs & stiles indicate, even if that doesn't correspond with the definitive map. They should be tagged to correspond with the signs status.

Not sure I agree with this - the "on the ground" principle can be taken
too far. The real principle is "objective verifiability" - so two
independent "mappers" would come to the same conclusion. That doesn't
always imply that things are actually visible on site, only that there
is an agreed "single point of truth". In my book that single point of
truth would be the Definitive Map and Definitive Statement, and NOT the
signs. 

On the Wiki page for UK Access Provisions[1] we see the following text: 

"Unsure about a Public Right of Way? After considering the images below
if its unclear whether a path is a Right of Way, then please tag it as
suspected:designation=<RoW type> or suspected:designation=row with an
appropriate note tag." 

If we map the PROW according to the (legally incorrect) signs, we should
indicate the source of the information as the sign, and not the
Definitive Map/Statement. Maybe "designation=public_footpath" +
"source:designation=sign"? 

//colin 

[1]
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/UK_access_provisions#Public_Rights_of_Way
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