OpenStreetMap and Garmin

I first saw OpenStreetMap a few years ago, with its mission to create a free editable map of the world, but thought it looked rather hard work.  So I carried on buying things like Ordnance Survey topographical mapping when I got a new Garmin Legend a few years ago.  The road mapping and routing were fine, but things like footpaths were only patchily covered, and sometimes had missing parts.  Also, the mapping cost about as much as the device to use it on, and you could only view it on the handheld and not in the "Mapsource" programme that Garmin supply.
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Either I missed the plot last time I looked, or OpenStreetMap has got dramatically more useful and easier.  Taking this view of the area around Gas Street Basin as an example, there is lots more detail there than on the OS 1:25000 maps on footways and access to roads at bridges, as well as identification of shops and restaurants, useful for visitors.  Unlike the OS based products, paths can be made routable, so the routing capability on the handheld will take you onto towpaths when that is more direct, rather than using only the roads.

It is also free for anyone to use, and various enthusiasts have made available downloadable versions that can be put on a data card and used in many GPS devices.  If there isn't one there to suit your needs, there are also instructions elsewhere on that wiki on how to build your own maps with particular emphasis on the features you want to see.  As an aside you can also download Points of Interest on a planned route on Canalplan and load these via Mapsource, so that you have all bridges, locks and moorings marked.

Of course, with anything produced this way there might be inaccuracies, missing bits, or things that are out of date.  There were certainly a couple of missing footpaths near my home, and in the woods where I walk the dog the paths had changed quite a bit in the couple of years since someone entered them, due to forestry work.  The beauty of it is though that I could correct the online map for these features in a couple of hours, and those changes propagated into the downloadable compiled versions within a couple of weeks.  I'll be looking at how complete the mapping is in some other areas during our next trip out in a couple of weeks.

I have no connection with the site other than as a grateful user, and now as an occasional contributor.