[OSM-talk] National Byway

[Richard Fairhurst]

The National Byway is a UK cycle-route project, a bit like the  
National Cycle Network but on a smaller scale - it's essentially one  
long route with a few "loops" along the way. Route map at  
http://www.thenationalbyway.org/national_map.asp .

Their map page at http://www.thenationalbyway.org/maps_sale.asp reports:

"We are often asked why we do not make our maps available for  
downloading from this site - it is a matter of map size. The regions  
of the Byway are up to 400 miles in length and cover considerable  
geographic areas of Britain. Even at a scale of 3 miles to the inch,  
the regional Byway route maps consist of up to 24 panels 210x135mm.  
This would require considerable time, colour ink and printing to  
download, followed by a major cellotape-assisted project to stick them  
together! It is not practical. There is also the question of ownership  
and licensing of cartography which still has to be resolved."

<puts on cape>
Sounds like a job for OpenStreetMap...

I'm raising this now because I know there's at least one part of the  
Byway in Rutland which we can survey this weekend. But if you see  
National Byway signs on your surveying travels anywhere, please tag  
accordingly. I'd suggest route=ncn, ncn_ref=National Byway.

One fly in the ointment is that, as an extremely dubious cost-saving  
measure, the Byway loops are often signposted in one direction only.

cheers
Richard

(Incidentally, +1 for combining talk-midlands and talk-london into  
talk-uk for matters like this.)