True grit

With the cold weather continuing its been difficult to get out and do the normal level of new mapping so we decided at one of the monthly social meets to do a bit of work that didn't require much outdoor mapping. Gritting Routes. Birmingham City Council like many other local authorities publish their winter road management plans, including those routes which are strategically important and therefore should be kept clear of snow and ice in the winter. These gritting routes have been added to the OpenStreetMap.org database and a new overlay created from this to add a gritting map to mappa-mercia.org. Solihull has since been added and we are hopefull to add the other West Midlands LA's data soon too.

The work hasn't stopped at gritting routes. The location of grit bins, placed by LA's at vulnerable locations such as steep hills and schools, especially on roads which are not routinely gritted, needs to be located or verified on the ground. We've started to add some to the database and now show on the gritting map when you zoom in and more will appear as they are found and verified. If you have a grit bin on your street why not add it yourself or tells where it is and we will add it for you.

All of this has produced some good publicity for the mappa-mercia project. Birmingham has now added a link to our gritting map from its website and to top it all last week we got a short interview aired on the BBC evening news program Midlands Today plus a post on BBC West Midlands Science and Environment correspondent David Gregory's blog

Great work to all those who have contributed.

Birmingham Coach Station

This august institution re-opened today after several years refurbishment and a temporary location in Coventry Street. Notice the change of name from Digbeth Coach Station. I did a survey this morning: check it out here. There are 16 bays tagged as bus-stops but the only renderer to pick them all out is our very own Christoph's NOVAM. The red barrier around the bus roads is a work of art. I don't know how long the copper cladding will remain nice and shiny. National Express sold the building two months ago for £16m in a sale-and-leaseback deal. It's a couple of months late because the main contractor went bust. The taxidrivers I spoke to weren't too impressed with only 4 spaces in their taxi rank

Picturesque view of the Black Country

To encourage us and new members that mapping the black country is not just about grim housing estates, brownfield and derelict areas and industrial sites that are barred by security gates, here is a view to stimulate us that beauty can be found in this region. Cobb's Engine House stands in the midst of a large nature reserve with extensive views over the region. It is suituated at the confluence of a number of canals and above the entrance to the Netherton tunnel (2.5 miles long)which was the last canal tunnel to be built in Britain. (btw there are still lots of cycle paths and footpaths to be surveyed here)

Pelsall pleasure

As time ticks by more and more villages within the West Midlands conurbation get completed. This time its Pelsall, a 1000 year old settlement that is now part of Walsall Metropolitan Borough. It's another old mining village though there is little sign of its earlier industrial past other than the canal that meanders peacefully around its western and northern fringes. Pelsall is the home of one of the oldest Finger Posts in the country. Recently restored to its former glory it stands at the main principal road junction to the north-east of the village. Naturally such a fine monument has a road named after it; Finger post Drive.

Where the bus shelters get made

Passed by this small engineering works near Cradley Heath station and couldn't resist taking a snap of a stock of bus shelters ( didn't tag them all though!) A pint of beer to anyone who discovers where the bus stops are made! However the picture shows the older style of bus stops so this migh just be a recycling centre so I'd better do a more thorough survey next time I'm out there.

Brownhills Jigger

Brownhills is the most northerly town of the West Midlands; a former coal mining centre that used to be in Staffordshire. Its recent claim to fame is the creation of a 30 foot statue of a coal miner know as "Jigger", a tribute to Jack jigger Taylor, a miner that died in the local pit in 1951. It dominats the centre of town.

Its been an interesting place to map. A real mixture of housing types, landuse and the remnants of the industrial revolution; canals and railways, some of which have been abandonded and now have a second life as footpaths or cycleways.

Tyseley Locomotive Works

I was kindly invited in to map this area in East Birmingham following a request I made to the speakers at a presentation about the Shakespeare Express which runs from here. The Shakespeare Express is a scheduled steam service from Birmingham Snow Hill to Stratford and back every Sunday during the summer months. Walking along railway tracks makes a change from normal mapping!