Mapping out footpaths

[robinlovelace-ate]

At the ATI visit today this was flagged as a priority. The current situation:

• Historic footpaths, many of which have been in use for hundreds of years, must be maintained by land owners by law and they are used by people who know where they are based on local knowledge or Ordnance Survey data.
• There is essentially zero data on the attributes of footpaths. The only way to know if a footpath is blocked or unpassable or unpleasant to use (e.g. muddy, thorns covering crossing points, stiles not working) is to go there.

This project idea is new and the scope needs to be tied down but it would like involve:

• Map existing data on footpaths
• Assess gaps in open data, primarily OpenStreetMap, where official routes that are mapped in OS are not in OSM
• Crowd source updates to the data, e.g. via a progressive web app, and promotion by ATE, to do targetted mapping to fill the gaps in OSM
• Use the data!
  • Public facing visualisation
  • Incorporation into LayerMapper project TBC
  • Incorporation into ATIP
  • Routing for leisure routes

We would want to link up with Slow Ways on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Ways

[dabreegster]

Crowd source updates to the data, e.g. via a progressive web app

Worth checking around with StreetComplete and similar projects; the OSM community has had a big emphasis on assessing surface quality and accessibility of paths for cargo bikes and such.