At National Trust we would like to have an inventory of all paths on National Trust managed land. These paths would include statutory designations (Footpaths, Bridleways, Restricted Byways, Byways) and permissive paths both on publically accessible land and on National Trust pay-for-entry estates. The aim is to enable management of the network, aid the creation and promotion of trails based on the path network and to publicise how National Trust enables access to the countryside.
After reviewing the datasets available to create this inventory we have concluded that Open Street Map would be the best source of data. The main obstacle is the consistency of tagging of paths / tracks particularly in relation to designations.
After reviewing http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Tagging_Guidelines we propose to use a hybrid approach to tag highways as summarised below:
(I will also add a page in the wiki with a formatted table and x-ref from this post when I have done so).
Designation Access Highway Foot Horse Bicycle Vehicle prow_ref
Footpath public_footpath yes footway/track designated no no no
Bridleway public_bridleway yes footway/track designated designated yes no
Restricted Byway restricted_byway yes track designated designated designated no
Byway byway_open_to_all_traffic yes track yes yes yes designated
Permissive path permissive_footway permissive footway/track yes no no no -
Permissive Cycle trail Permissive_bridleway permissive footway/track yes/no yes/no yes/no no -
We propose that we would:
• Review existing highway data on all National Trust managed land.
• Utilise our ranger network / property based staff to use on the ground knowledge to verify data.
• Create any highways that do not currently exist – tag as above table.
• Where required split existing tracks to create a path network.
• Update any existing tags that contradict the above tagging (not remove any other tags).
• Create tags on existing highways where they do not currently exist.
In the short term we propose to edit areas where National Trust have land and are outside National Parks and are not covered by data on http://www.rowmaps.com/ to understand the input required and to act as example areas. We will publicise where and when we have done this so OSM editors can see what we are proposing. At this stage we would use individual OSM accounts for the editing and annotate the change files to show it is done as part of the proposed process.
After completing these areas we will make a decision as to whether to start a programme to edit all paths on National Trust managed land.
If we proceed with this stage we will review how we set-up editors to ensure we are open as to whom is editing the data.
N.B. We have read http://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Directed_Editing_Policy and we would open with our editing programme and contactable in case of queries.
By using our network of rangers and countryside staff we can use aerial photos and local knowledge to capture the data thus ensuring we are compliant with copyright rules.
We are contacting the Open Street Map community to seek comments on this proposal.
Kind regards
Ian Dawes
National Trust Conservation Information Manager