Map of Obscure Somerville stairways, ramps, paths, and shortcuts

[ron_newman]

Now that the weather is finally becoming pleasant for walking and biking around town, you may be interested in my Google Map of stairways, ramps, shortcuts, and pedestrian paths in and near Somerville. Since Google Map URLs are quite long, I gave it a shorter one that's easy to remember:

http://TinyURL.com/ObscureSomerville

The map started modestly last spring with a few stairways on Winter Hill; with help from DSLJ readers and others, it has now grown to 122 marked places.

Please look at the map and let me know of anything you think should be added to, removed from, or changed on this map. You can comment here or send e-mail to the address on my LJ profile page.

(Last year's posts about the map are here and here.)

Comments

Re: OSM

[ron_newman]

I don't know much about Open Street Map. I do not have a GPS, but everything on my map is the result of my direct observation, on foot or bicycle. If someone else suggested a feature, I visited it before putting it on the map.

If anyone wants to re-visit any or all of these places with a GPS, that's fine with me.

Re: OSM

[tim mccormack (from livejournal.com)]

Basically, they're trying to build up a free-licensed dataset that can be used instead of Google Maps, etc. So, since you used Google Maps satellite imagery to make your map (by choosing where to drop your markers) the raw data from your map is tangled with GMaps copyrights. Legally, the OSM people *can't* import your stuff directly, even if you gave them permission. That's what I meant by them having to revisit everything. (It's more work than I'm interested in putting in, but there are some really dedicated people out there. :-P)

Re: OSM

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

what if many people visited the various locations again so that it could be imported properly, without infringing copyright?

Re: OSM

[ron_newman]

Anything you do with Open Street Map is OK with me. I put this map out for the public to use in any way they see fit. If OSM requires GPS coordinates, then you're going to have to re-visit all the locations anyway since I didn't use GPS.

Re: OSM

[tim mccormack (from livejournal.com)]

That's exactly what has to happen, actually.