[OSM-talk] opencycleroute.org

[Nick Whitelegg]

On 08/05/06, Frank O'Dwyer <fod at opencycleroute.org> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm in the process of starting up a project to collect machine & human
>> readable cycle routes under a CC license at opencycleroute.org.

This sounds like a good idea and vaguely similar to my intentions for 
Freemap.
Freemap started out as a project to map the footpaths of the UK using GPS 
tracks, and store them in a central database. Now, the idea is to store 
Freemap tracks in OSM and to focus Freemap itself on being a 
walking-orientated website which uses OSM maps (using a local copy of the 
database) and allows the user to overlay, on the OSM maps, the locations 
of interesting views, obstructions (bogs, barbed wire, nettles, mad cows, 
etc) for others to view, as well as instructions at points where it's easy 
to get lost. 

Other plans I have for Freemap, which is rather like your idea, is to 
allow users to contribute suggested walks, these could be GPX files or 
could even be done through the user tracing the walk route on the OSM map.


>> With this in mind I have some questions:
>>
>> - can OSM handle GPX files with waypoints as well as tracklogs?

>It will handle them, but only the tracklogs will be displayed.

>> - are GPX containing only waypoints any use to you, or do you need
>> tracklogs?

>In the future we might display the waypoints too, so they aren't
>worthless, but for now we trace tracklogs by hand to make our maps.
>I'm not sure, but I think at least one of the standalone clients
>(osmeditor, JOSM, etc) will convert GPX Waypoints into Nodes with tags
>for OpenStreetMap - Nick, Imi?

osmeditor2 will do this.  I have two approaches to recording extra 
information. 

Firstly, when I pass a pub, viewpoint etc, I record it as a waypoint. 
osmeditor2 will then upload waypoints direct to the OSM server; it also 
allows the user to set the waypoint type (pub, village etc). They will be 
converted to nodes on OSM.

A second approach is for users to record things like interesting views, 
obstructions, points where it's easy to get lost, etc, later on. These 
sorts of things could come with a possibly lengthy text description, and 
may be recorded by people without a GPS (e.g. people could click on an 
existing map and estimate the position of a good view) so are perhaps more 
suited to an AJAX-style web interface than osmeditor2. My approach here 
would be to allow the user to click on the map and then enter relevant 
information about the feature. If it was a photo they could upload it. 
Implementing these sort of features could benefit Freemap, your site and 
OSM as a whole.

Nick