[Talk-GB] Scottish paths map

[Chris Hodges]

I actually use a cycling view for hiking, via mapsforge, but there's 
another big reason to prefer OS at times: paper maps are good.


I can print OSM in a number of ways, but limited to A4.  Some navigation 
needs 1:50000 or better, and paper doesn't run out of battery.  So for 
more interesting hikes I have both OS and OSM data.

When challenged, I can always say "I started on a bridleway/footpath, 
have I missed a turning?" and I've never had any trouble - even when I 
have gone the wrong way I've been helpfully corrected (e.g. cycling, 
footpath follows farm track, bridleway vanishes into the weeds.


Chris


On 13/09/2021 21:40, Mark Goodge wrote:
>
>
> On 13/09/2021 17:54, Andy Townsend wrote:
>
>> Historically the Ramblers (at least where I've encountered them, in 
>> England and Wales) have tended to use Ordnance Survey Maps rather 
>> than OSM.  There are exceptions (at least one Ramblers Footpath 
>> Secretary regularly posts to this list).  I've never quite understood 
>> this - in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and North Yorkshire, OSM has 
>> far more detail, and pretty much anywhere a tourist would want to go 
>> is in there.  There are some "rights of way in name only" missing 
>> from OSM, but even they are getting added*.
>
> There are, I think, two main reasons why walkers in general still 
> prefer OS maps to OSM.
>
> The first is that the default OSM render doesn't give any visible 
> indication of rights of way, unlike OS which clearly highlights them. 
> I know the information is there in the data, but it's the standard 
> render which is "the map" to most people. And I'm not, offhand, aware 
> of an OSM layer that is geared to the needs of walkers and does 
> clearly show rights of way. There are a some good layers aimed at 
> cyclists, but none that I've found that are specific to the needs of 
> walkers.
>
> The second is that having an OS map in your hand, or on your phone, is 
> a very good answer to the question "what right do you have to be 
> here?". Because pretty much everyone knows that OS maps show the legal 
> rights of way, and you can point to them as justification for using a 
> path or track. But OSM suffers from the Wikipedia problem in this 
> respect; because it's user-generated data you can never be 100% 
> certain that it's accurate. As far as access rights are concerned, you 
> still need to check with definitive sources if there happens to be a 
> dispute. And OS maps are, for most of the public, the definitive source.
>
> Mark
>
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