[Openstreetmap] Maps that Lye

[richard at systemed.net]

Quoting David Cantrell <david at cantrell.org.uk>:

> At least some of those paths are real.  IME they go to a building or
> other feature that no longer exists or isn't marked, or to a view point.
> Of course, whether the path exists because people saw it was there on
> the map, or t'other way round is a good question.

In my experience map curiosities are usually one of the following:

- error on the part of the cartographer
- an accurate recording of a real life oddity (as per the above example)
- use of a historical source which is no longer accurate
- or the map user's over-literal reading of generalisation (where the map is
"shaped" to become more readable, at the expense of 100% accuracy)

Deliberate errors, such as the marvellous Lye Close, do of course exist but (I
feel) have become a little bit of an urban myth - they're not _that_ prevalent.

A cartographer is more likely to prove copyright infringement along the above
lines - and more generally, by sheer weight of coincidence. Cartography (as
distinct from GIS) is an art: the cartographer has to make the decisions as to
which features to include or exclude, what weighting to give them, and so on.
If another mapper makes exactly the same decisions for exactly the same area,
that's probably an infringement.

Richard

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