[OSM-talk] Easy to use system for countryside surveying

[Nick Whitelegg]

Hello everyone,

Have thought of an approach to make countryside OSM mapping using phones 
with inbuilt GPS (N95, etc) easy to the end user.

A user could survey their walk using an N95 or similar, and then, using a 
very simple interface, select whether they are on a footpath, bridleway, 
unclassified road, track, etc every time the type of path or road they are 
on changes. So if they're on a road, then turn off down a footpath, they 
could select "footpath". Then if the footpath merges into a bridleway, 
they could select "bridleway".  The result would be a GPS track with 
sections "tagged" with footpath, bridleway etc.

A track simplification algorithm could be applied and ways generated from 
the GPS trace automiatically. This could then be uploaded to OSM for a 
more expert user (who could subscribe to an RSS feed to inform them of 
such uploads in their area) to refine the way, i.e. remove extraneous 
points and connect the auto-generated way to existing ways.

Any thoughts?

Nick