OpenStreetMap Updates

[LeeDavis]

The OpenStreetMaps I've been experimenting with for dirt road routes are the Wikipedia of maps in that they're user created and maintained. The other day when I was making a route for the Saturday venture I noticed that their map showed an erroneous spit in Edgemont Rd at the Avery/Caldwell county line, which screwed it up for route calculation in Basecamp and the GPS. I went to their website map, made a note of the error, submitted it and they fixed it, same day.

I'll have to download and install their latest compile of the map (I think they do this weekly) for my Basecamp and GPS to have the correction, but WOW, I'm impressed.

Correction Area: http://www.openstreetmap.org/note/137971#map=17/36.05084/-81.74801&layers=N

[Bob]

Pretty neat--and I see what you mean re. Mapsource missing some roads, OSM showed that road from 181 over to Table Rock Rd. which was 90% missing in Mapsource.

But here's another one you might wanna point out to them, not that anyone would get lost on account of it....but the "missing link" in the middle of Maple Sally, which OSM DOES show, is waaay off from accurate, like someone said " hey lets make something up here". Here's how you can see it: make a route in Mapsource following the full length of Maple Sally using the OSM map base, then click "View in Google Earth" and zoom in some and compare the track vs the actual road (the part missing in Mapsource) as Google Earth shows it. Not even close. If it was the same "shape" but just offset by a few clicks I'd say "nice try" but this one is someone's figment I think.

[LeeDavis]

Yeah, sort of, "Thar be monsters" and draw a few road segments through it. Hard to fault them too badly though since neither Google nor Garmin are exactly paragons of accuracy when it comes to the boondocks roads. As long as OSM has the roads so I can route them I can live with the positional discrepancies. Besides, it's entertainment to look at the GPS and see your location here and the road there!

[Bob]

Besides, it's entertainment to look at the GPS and see your location here and the road there!

I just set my GPS to "Lock on Road" and then it tells me what I want to see, even if I'm actually WTF off route lol.

[LeeDavis]

I was making another route for a future dirt ride this morning and OSM had a road I wanted but this time the location of the turn intersection was off so I would have had trouble finding it on my GPS. I registered to become an OSM member which enables editing privilege. I deleted the existing road then drew it in accurately. In edit mode the OSM map is superimposed over the very good Bing satellite view - easy. This is also useful to simply verify what they have on the map.

Here's my edit: http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/36.0192/-81.7464 It's the Forest Service Road that squiggles up diagonally from NC-90.

[Broz]

Man you guys have too much time on your hands.
I'm glad you do it it so I can be the beneficiary of accurate maps.
Broz

[Bob]

I know that road, nice shortcut around the north side of Mortimer from 90 to Edgemont Rd. Sometimes it is gated shut, but if its open at one end the other end should also be open.

[LeeDavis]

Suppose to be freezing cold again tomorrow morning so I might as well fix Maple Grove Church Rd. What they have is indeed a poor effort.

[Bob]

Yeah, its pretty pathetic. In fact, the Garmin database for Maple Sally (the 2 disconnected parts it shows) follows G-Earth pretty closely. Wonder why the OSM guys didn't just take that part and expand on it instead of re-doing the whole thing. I am so ready to ride those roads again! Still trying to get the knee improved--thinking I can ride in maybe 7-10 days. I hope.

[LeeDavis]

Rainy day so I finished fixing the track for Maple Sally. I found OMS's original track on a topographical map so I assume that's where it came from. I gave preference to local naming convention so I changed the name from Maple Sally to Maple Grove Church at Eliza Estes Mill Creek north up to the settlement of Maple Grove. Existing maps are beyond vague about this.

The split: http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/35.9815/-81.7186

Looks like weather is finally going to get more Spring-like next week. As riveting as mapping roads is it'd be fun to ride them!

[Bob]

Looks good. Damn thats one twisty road.