OpenStreetMap
Intro
One of my current hobbies is mapping Public Rights of Way (PRoW) routes in Lancashire.
This hobby came about after walking various routes in the beautiful Lancashire countryside, with my canine companion, only to find that they weren’t all showing up in OSM.
PRoWs, such as public footpaths and public bridleways, are core components of our right to enjoy the countryside and so I feel that it’s incredibly important to get them mapped in OSM. After all, if you don’t know a PRoW is nearby then you’re unlikely to ever make use of it.
Every local authority is required to keep a record of the PRoWs in their area - known as the definitive map and definitive statement. Most councils (though not all) have made this data set available for re-use (see list here).
The best way to map a PRoW is, of course, to do a ground survey. But, given the sheer number of routes in Lancashire (and most other authority areas), this has meant that the majority of routes have gone unmapped.
So I’ve taken to armchair mapping when visiting the PRoW just isn’t practical for me.
Sources
I use the Lancashire County Council’s PRoW GIS data, under the OGL v3 licence, through a MapBox layer to trace the PRoW route in OSM. I then also cross-check the route with mathmos.net to ensure I get the designation (e.g. public footpath, public bridleway) and prow_ref tags correct.
The mathmos.net site is also great as it allows me to check on the progress of the mapped routes in Lancashire - so I can see where routes are missing from the map and add them as necessary.
Of course, I can’t add tags such as surface or always know about obstructions on the route (e.g. stiles). And it’s important to note that the data provided isn’t always entirely accurate or up-to-date.