[Talk-us] Mapping rail trails

[Richard Fairhurst]

Hi all,

You might remember that back in March I wondered whether we could get 
access to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's data, which they've given to 
Google:

https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/2019-March/019266.html

Helpful people on this list followed that up with RTC (thank you!). 
Finally the answer has come back and it's no. The data is apparently 
"free as in Google" - sadly RTC aren't interested in having their trails 
appear in basically every single cycling app which uses OSM data.

(In completely unconnected news, I note that RTC currently sells 
"TrailLink Unlimited" mapping for $29.99/year.)

I find this a great shame as someone who loves cycling rail-trails - 
mostly over here in the UK, but I've ridden a few in the US: we don't 
have any single structure as cool as the Walkway over the Hudson, so I 
had to do that when I was at SOTM-US a couple of years ago!

So... let's do it ourselves.

OSM was founded in 2004 on the principle of "if they won't give us the 
data, we'll make it ourselves" and that still holds true. I've started 
on making sure all rail-trails of a reasonable length (say, 5 miles 
upwards) are actually mapped in OSM, using route relations.

Often the trails are in there as ways, but no relation has been created. 
Sometimes a trail has been extended on the ground from when it was 
originally mapped. Other times there'll be a trail relation for a longer 
route (e.g. a USBRS route) of which this forms part, but not for the 
named trail itself.

If we get the basic trail data in OSM, so the trails show prominently in 
apps and other renderings, then that will encourage cyclists to use OSM 
and then add the detailed info (surface, facilities, trailheads, 
connecting paths etc.) that is best acquired by survey.

I've had a quick blast through several states so far (AR, IA, ID, IN, 
MA, MD, ME, MT, NE, PA, RI, SD, WA, WV, WY, plus a little bit of work in 
CA and OH). I may of course have missed some trails. I've been creating 
route relations with route=bicycle, network=lcn, and an appropriate name 
tag: I'm not a great fan of making up abbreviations for the ref= tag but 
if that floats your boat, go for it.

So why not have a go? It's easy work and you get to see the routes 
appear on http://cycling.waymarkedtrails.org pretty much instantly.

(Obviously don't copy any information from RTC's website or similar. 
Most trails have their own websites: factual statements on those sites 
can almost certainly be used as fair use.)

cheers
Richard