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<p class=MsoNormal>I’ve been working on a map browser project, and I have some
code I’m ready to think about releasing (free, with source, under the Eclipse
Public Licence).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>It’s a Java/Eclipse based application which is capable of displaying
various kinds of map data, including (of course) OSM data. I have tested it
only on Windows, but it should run on all other Eclipse platforms including Mac
OSX and Linux.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>There is a some information, including screen shots on my
website at <a href="http://www.immutify.com/products/maptools/maptools.html">http://www.immutify.com/products/maptools/maptools.html</a>
and from there is a link to the entire online help content for the product.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>It can display the slippy maps, as well as rendering on the
fly from the XML data returned by the OSM API.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I also have code which allows it to display Google Maps,
Google Satellite maps, and QCT format commercial maps, although I have removed
these features for the time being because of legal concerns. It can interface
to a GPS to provide a moving map display, but this is also removed for the
moment because of licensing concerns with the RXTX library, which is under an
LGPL license.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>It can call the OSM API to download the XML data for the
viewable portion of a raster map and display the OSM data as an overlay, which
seems fine.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>There are a few limitations/issues which are discussed in
the on line help available via the URL above.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>My main issue is with the interactive map which renders on
the fly from the XML API. It requests “tiles” of XML data, equivalent to Slippy
map tiles at zoom level 12 (in terms of area covered). The calls to the API are
rather slow, which suggests to me that the server is working hard to answer the
queries, and I want to get some people who understand what’s happening on the
server to look at it before I release to a wider audience, hence this email. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The program caches all data and never re-requests anything
it has cached (not actually the right behaviour, but progress so far). When the
XML data is cached the rendering is a bit slow, but workable, when the data has
to be fetched it seems to be too slow however, but my main concern is the
impact on the servers if a lot of people start using it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Note that this is a browser application and any calls to the
tile servers or API are as a direct result of a user viewing a map
interactively, this is not a systematic bulk download. For the tile servers I
think the load is no more than for a user viewing the map via a web browser.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I’m trying to write a client app, rather than implement
server infrastructure, so I’d be happiest if I can just source the data I need
online, but options to move this forward I can see include:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>OSM provides ready cut “tiles” of XML data, this seems like
a sensible approach to me, but I might be alone. I’ve heard about something
called TRAPI but haven’t seen much information about it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I take the planet file and produce these tiles.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I take the planet file and produce Eclipse plugins so users
can download, say, a countries worth of data. This makes it more useful as an
offline tool.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I add functionality to the client to be able to process a
planet file (or extract) and users can do this for themselves.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>So, if you would like to take a look, or would like to
suggest suitable people to do so, please let me know and I’ll send you the
download details so you can try it. If you have suggestions about how to make
it better, then so much the better.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Regards,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Bruce Skingle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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