[Talk-GB] Using statutory 'list of streets' for mapping

[Mark Goodge]

On 04/08/2021 08:08, Edward Bainton wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> On a note <https://www.openstreetmap.org/note/1312848> near me a 
> contributor has queried whether a road has been downgraded from B662 to 
> unclassified.
> 
> It passes through Cambs and North Northants.
> 
> Cambs's statutory list of streets strongly suggests it has indeed been 
> downgraded.
> 
> Northants doesn't maintain a 'list', but instead puts theirs in a GIS 
> combined with OS data. (marked copyright Crown & OS)
> 
> Can we legitimately use either of these sources to determine the status 
> of the road? (both linked from the note) My hunch is first, yes; second, 
> no; but thought best to check.

OS OpenRoads is OGL and can be used to derive data for inclusion in OSM. 
That will show the road status and official number, if classified.

> Also what do we do if the signs and the statutory lists are at variance, 
> as it seems they may be?

In this case, I'd be inclined to go with the official status, provided 
it can be definitively verified from open data sources. Signs are, 
unfortunately, sometimes wrong, and even more often are left unchanged 
after a road has been renumbered or upgraded/downgraded. It would be 
rather daft if OSM was the only map which continued to show a road as 
having an obsolete status, when every other mapping agency shows the 
current status, simply because some inefficient highways department has 
accidentally left a sign in place that should have been removed.

Mark