[OSM-talk] Coastlines

[David Groom]

Thinking forward to the Isle of Wight workshop, but also relevant elsewhere, 
is the issue of coastlines.

Two issues spring to mind.

Firstly is it necessary to have coastline data in OSM?

Secondly if the answer to the first question is yes, then how should the 
coastline data get into OSM?  It will not always be possible to walk / drive 
along a coastline either because the land may be private, or because it may 
be inaccessible due to woodland, cliffs etc.  It obviously would be possible 
to use the Landsat imagery and trace the coastline for an area that was 
being mapped, but if the orthorectification of the Landsat imagery is not 
accurate then this is not ideal.  Also it breaks the idea of having all OSM 
data derived from user entered GPS data.