Working with the Countryside and Community Research Unit of Gloucester University and other specialist consultants exeGesIS contributed to a major contract on 'Lost Ways' research.
'Lost Ways' is the name given to a project to uncover and reassert all rights of way that are not presently recorded on definitive maps. A requirement brought into focus by the CROW legislation that will extinguish unrecorded historic rights by 2026.
The research addressed the full range of logistical and resource issues that arise from the task of meeting the 2026 deadline and also generated the estimate that the total length of Lost Ways in England and Wales is likely to be around 18,000km. A fully interactive web mapping system was built and demonstrated as a solution to the substantial task of coordinating and managing the research process on some 8,000 new paths. It is probable that such a system will be at the heart of the delivery of this work over the next 20 years.