Loomio
Tue 15 Sep 2020 6:26PM

Which UK data could be used in the new RapiD/JOSM plugin?

R RobJN Public Seen by 48

Have any of you used the new version of the RapiD OSM editor (or the new JOSM MapWithAI plugin) that was announced in July? I'm referring to the version that allows you to more easily add data to OSM from Esri's ArcGis platform. For info see https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-living-atlas/mapping/arcgis-data-support-in-osm-editors/

It's a concept that I feel is worthy of further exploration. Unlike some other tools, it simply presents the data to the users to use or not use as they see fit (similar to the base aerial imagery but with suggested geometries ready to be used). As such, it doesn't feel pushy or a task list that you need to hit 100% on.

Are there any UK datasets (Ordnance Survey or other) that you think it may be worth investigating if they can be used in this tool?

R

RobJN Tue 15 Sep 2020 7:10PM

As a starter, from the OS Open Data, I have identified the following cases:

  • OS Open Rivers - We did a quarterly project on rivers as there are a lot that are still traced from old NPE maps. Using the new tool to pull in improved geometry.

  • OS Open Roads / Open USRN - This would need quite a lot of pre-processing and maybe pushes beyond what the tool currently does (i.e. I don't think it can allow you to add new attributes to existing geometry). Nevertheless I see value in using these datasets to check for missing roads, checking names (i.e. like we did with the old OS Locator layer) and merging in the USRNs.

I'm less certain on things like OS Open Zoomstack and OS OpenMap Local. Has anyone got any experience of these? One possible idea is to extract the buildings and then improve them by splitting the terraces into individual lots (e.g. using the Land Registry INSPIRE data and/or the UPRN data).

Going beyond the OS data then I could see value in using this tool with:

  • The Local Authorities Public Rights of Way data (similar to Nick Whitelegg's tool) but if and only if we can clarify the licence on these datasets.

  • The London Cycle Infrastructure data (the work on this seems to have got stuck or is now behind closed doors)

Anything else worth exploring?

GL

Gareth L Thu 17 Sep 2020 12:43PM

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this works. From what I read, these are datasets that are already curated and then are uploaded. Presumably that rules out things like using the FHRS api, but possibly a raw download of the data for upload?

NAPTAN strikes me as it could be perfect for this, but it's updated monthly - I think.

R

RobJN Thu 17 Sep 2020 4:38PM

Yeah so it is static data that sits on Esri's ArcGis Online platform so no direct API access but a download would be fine.

Currently it is for adding new geometries (with attribute data) to OSM. They can filter for where geometries already exist (e.g. in the case of adding buildings when some are already mapped) but cannot update existing geometries or apply just tags on to existing geometries. However that might change so we should explore all options.

HD

Huw Diprose Wed 16 Sep 2020 4:31PM

I just came across the OS open greenspace dataset which could be good:
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-government/products/open-map-greenspace

Seems to be a small download, so I'm imagining its a manageable number of large polygons?

Did you folks look into that one already?

CM

Cj Malone Wed 16 Sep 2020 10:14PM

Does Esri have any motivations to prompt there clients to release existing datasets as Open Data? And if so do we know about any interesting datasets they host, that we want?

R

RobJN Sun 20 Sep 2020 8:32PM

Yes I think so. Like other corporate users I think Esri see OSM as a low cost option of growing importance. Thir customers also increasingly request it which is why Esri got in to OSM in the first place (e.g. providing their own vector tiles based on OSM).

Not sure what datasets Esri's UK customers are hosting on the arc gis online platform but you could guess at a lot of local authorities using this.

CM

Cj Malone Mon 21 Sep 2020 10:00PM

NI defibs are hosted on arc gis. Would be good to get actual access for the defib QP.

D

DaveL Mon 21 Sep 2020 8:46PM

I have some experience adding buildings from openmap local, in case it's useful. The data are doubtless better than nothing, but not high quality -- definitely not like what I see on local authority sites or historicengland using large scale OS data. They rather look as though they were derived less-than-ideally from imagery. Buildings are often merged, in particular, where they're quite distinct in good imagery. They certainly benefit from tidying using imagery, but that's tedious for a significant area, and possibly best left until someone does a survey. Also they didn't seem much more up-to-date than Bing imagery for a new housing estate round here, but then the data in Aurora from the local authority aren't much more complete there, if any.

I'd have added something to the wiki if that didn't require recaptcha or something to sign up.