[Talk-us-massachusetts] Hello

[Greg Troxel]

You didn't mention "engaging with the local Conservation Commission and
land trust to get them to use OSM".   There are typically a number of
issues with that including

  a "we use ESRI" attitude

  a desire to produce maps that show only official trails

  a fear of crowdsourced data

  unwillingness to attribute OSM

There are a few towns that do seem to be using OSM, specifically Groton
and Bolton.  I don't know of others.

Stow, for example, publishes per-property trail maps in pdf, but doesn't
make the underlying data available.  (I could make a public records
request, but that doesn't get me a license to use it, and I can walk the
trails myself, so I haven't.)  However, the Conservation Department
knows me, and when they did close a trail (actually blocked it and
signed it no entry, due to erosion cocerns) they asked me to adjust OSM.
So there are certainly a lot of middle grounds.

If you do want to approach  the town, I'm happy to chat  offline some
time in more depth, and would advise you to figure out the social
situation first and tread carefully.


Another caution is that there are sometimes edits from trail user
communities that may not reflect property rules.  I have edited OSM a
bit in Stow to mark bicycle=no on trails where the landowner does not
permit bicycle use, and access=no on private land that is posted and I
know the landowner objects to trespassing.

Greg
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