[Talk-GB] Private tracks through a farmyard

[Phil Endecott]

George Honeywood wrote:
> I've received some messages from a user [1] regarding private 
> tracks that run through their farm. A year ago they deleted these 
> tracks from OSM, and about a month after that I reinstated them, 
> adding access=private [2].

> If any of you have experience with the OS Maps app then it would 
> be good to know if it uses OSM data, and if so how it handles 
> access=private.

It's important to be certain exactly which app is being used; I always
ask for a screenshot if I have any hint of doubt.

Back in 2010, shortly after OS released their footpath-less OpenData,
I launched an app that combined that with OSM paths. I show private paths
as a thin dashed grey line and public footpaths as a slightly thicker
dashed green line - approximately how OS Explorer maps show them. It's
not always easy to select which to show. If the path has
designation=public_footpath or if it has access=private then it's obvious,
but many paths have neither and my heuristics are not perfect. But it
seemed to me, from the start, that getting this right was important! Do
please keep adding those tags, everyone!

Now here we are a decade later and OS have borrowed this idea of overlaying
OSM paths on their own OpenData base map. At first sight it seems that they
are not making any effort to distinguish between private, permissive and
public paths. A cynic might imagine that this is deliberate, to steer users
towards their premium product. But are we sure that is what is happening
here? If I have read this thread correctly, the path in question was not
tagged as private originally. Are OS using a snapshot of OSM data where it
is not private? (Can someone check a path that they know has been 
tagged as
private for a long time?)

In any case, my guess is that OS are not doing the processing of OSM
data themselves; they are getting it from Mapbox, and looking at another
Mapbox map the path in question is shown as a more major track than the
SW-NE public footpath that it crosses. Does anyone have a Mapbox contact
who can be asked to investigate?


Regards,

Phil.