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OS Detailed Path Network Overview
This overview introduces OS Detailed Path Network and gives context for all users – highlighting key features, providing examples of uses, and listing details such as file sizes, supply formats, etc.
Last updated
This overview introduces OS Detailed Path Network and gives context for all users – highlighting key features, providing examples of uses, and listing details such as file sizes, supply formats, etc.
Last updated
The OS Detailed Path Network (DPN) product is a digital representation of the roads, tracks and paths in the National Parks of Great Britain that the public may use to travel on and enjoy the great outdoors.
Whilst the product is indicative of the right of access along roads, paths and tracks within Great Britain's National Parks, it is not the legally definitive source of access information, including public rights of way.
The product is designed to facilitate applications and services to provide routes for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders, primarily for leisure purposes.
The key features of the OS DPN product are as follows:
A connected link and node network that facilitates routing
Heighted data
A description of the type of route – road, track or path
National and local cycle routes identified
Named long distance routes
Names of roads, tracks and paths
Information on rights of way (England and Wales only)
Routes within access land identified (England and Wales only)
The OS DPN product has been created to allow partners and developers to design and provide bespoke applications to provide routes within Great Britain's National Parks for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders, including:
Advanced route planning
Live route planning
Turn-by-turn instructions
The data is not designed to be a definitive record of rights of way or other access rights.
The data can also be used by those responsible for assessing public access to areas as the product provides information on the levels of access available to different users.
This product is intended to be used only as a travel aid and must not be used for any purpose requiring precise measurement of direction, distance, location or topography. Ordnance Survey makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of data in this product.
When using OS DPN for navigation and routing, carefully compare information displayed on the device to all available navigation sources, including warning signs for danger areas, road signs, road closures, road conditions, traffic congestion and weather conditions.
For safety, always resolve any discrepancies before continuing navigation, and defer to posted local signature and conditions. OS DPN is designed to provide route suggestions. It is not a replacement for user attentiveness and good judgement.
Do not follow route suggestions if they propose an unsafe option or would place the user in a potentially dangerous situation.
When using the data in a portable electronic device, it is recommended that a suitable hard copy map be carried by the user in case of failure of the device.
Public rights of way represented within the OS DPN product have been taken from Ordnance Survey 1:25 000 Scale Colour Raster that was created from local authority definitive maps and later amendments. Rights of way are liable to change and may not be clearly defined on the ground. Please check with the relevant local authority for the latest information.
Portrayal of access land on this map is intended as a guide to land which is normally available for access on foot, for example, access land created under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and land managed by the National Trust, Forestry Commission, and Woodland Trust. Access for other activities may also exist. Some restrictions will apply, and some land may be excluded from open access rights. The depiction of rights of access does not imply or express any warranty as to its accuracy or completeness.
OS DPN is designed to facilitate off road routing in applications for consumers. After discussions with members of the outdoor community, it is strongly recommended that developers make use of all the attribution contained within the product to identify potentially difficult routes.
OS DPN has the functionality to highlight challenging or hazardous routes. It is for the developer to decide whether to advise the user that the created route is difficult or not to return the route at all.
The main product attribution that contains information on difficulty and hazards lies within the following attributes:
This attribute indicates the nature of the route on the ground or identification that there is not a clear route to follow (specific value ‘No Physical Manifestation’) but a legal right exists.
This attribute can indicate that a route is ‘Unmade’, meaning that the route may be more difficult to traverse than a made path. Examples are contained within the specification.
This attribute indicates whether the route passes over specific types of terrain, for example, Rock or Scree.
Using the three-dimensional geometry to establish steep routes or steep sections of a route.
This attribute indicates links that pass through Ministry of Defence (MOD) firing ranges. Routes generated using these links should be flagged and should refer to external sources of information to identify access restrictions.
For example, a public right of way that is not evident on the ground and which crosses steep terrain could be represented by a RouteLink with the following attributes:
routeLinkDescriptiveTerm value of No Physical Manifestation.
surfaceType of null in this instance because the route is not evident on the ground.
potentialHazard values of Rock and Scree.
Three-dimensional geometry which indicates a steep gradient.
It is strongly recommended that any generated routes that include combinations of attributes indicating difficulty should either present the user with a warning or be excluded as a route option based upon the target user.
