<HTML dir=ltr><HEAD><TITLE>Re: [OSM-talk]Actually using OpenStreetMap and the usabilityof the current maps</TITLE>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>Hello, Inge. </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>The maps shown at <A href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">http://www.openstreetmap.org</A> cannot be taken seriously. They have mistakes (religious symbols out of place), absurd rendering criteria (large pint glasses) and traces of mathematical mediocrity (watch the scale bar in any Scandinavian city : it's simply wrong). It's sad to see those things are not corrected, because it would take a little effort. But somehow, nobody cares.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>So those guys are right : if you want a sensible map right now, you need to setup your own renderer.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>Cheers,<BR>Lucas</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>This is a mail that I have been wanting to send for some time, but wanted to <BR>think a little more about the subject before I actually did.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>The topic is how the maps of OpenStreetMap are actually used by ordinary <BR>users. I know that the data of OSM is supposed to be used in new exciting <BR>ways like the cycle maps, but the majority of the users are just going to use <BR>what the programmers have made available to them.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>So the question then becomes, is the current renderings good? For which <BR>purposes?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>Before we can discuss how good the maps are, we have to describe the intended <BR>use cases. I will start with my own here, and hope that you will fill in your <BR>own ways of using maps in general and OSM in particular.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>I recently bought a cheap navigator, but before that I often used a commercial <BR>Swedish map services to navigate to places when I went there for my work. I'd <BR>print out the map on paper on a low zoom level, showing where I would go on <BR>large roads. Then I'd print out maps using higher and higher zoom levels <BR>closer and closer to my goal so that I can see which intermediate and smaller <BR>roads that I'd have to take to reach my goal.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>So, would OSM work for that usecase? No, I don't think so. Here is why:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3> * Names! There are far too few names on the map, especially on low zoom <BR>levels. It's difficult to get a feeling for where you are and orient yourself <BR>on the map if you cannot find names on the map. The commercial maps show lots <BR>and lots of names, and that is a good thing. We should make names appear on <BR>the maps earlier.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>* Distinctions between roads. In opposition to the case for names, there are <BR>too many roads on the large scale maps. Here is what the current map looks <BR>like around my home city: <BR><A href="http://www.openstreetmap.com/?lat=58.33&lon=15.408&zoom=10&layers=0B0FTF">http://www.openstreetmap.com/?lat=58.33&lon=15.408&zoom=10&layers=0B0FTF</A> <BR>There is too little distinction between the motorway, the few primary <BR>highways and the secondary. I don't think the tertiary highways should even <BR>be on that map. Once they are all mapped they will provide a messy background <BR>making the important roads even more difficult to see.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>* Marking important roads. In the map above, you can also see that there is no <BR>marking of even the motorway (E4) or primary roads (in this case national <BR>roads 34 and 50). This is like names for cities, towns and villages: it makes <BR>it more difficult to follow where you are on the map.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>So, what are other use cases for OSM? Are the current OSM renderings good for <BR>those use cases? Do we need more different renderings for different use <BR>cases?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3>I think that OSM has reached a state of maturity where we need to start <BR>discussing how the default renderings are used in real life.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3> -Inge</FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>Juan Lucas Domínguez Rubio<BR>Prodevelop SL, Valencia (España)<BR>Tlf.: 96.351.06.12 -- Fax: 96.351.09.68<BR><A href="http://www.prodevelop.es/">http://www.prodevelop.es</A></DIV></DIV>
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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>De:</B> talk-bounces@openstreetmap.org en nombre de Inge Wallin<BR><B>Enviado el:</B> lun 28/07/2008 16:59<BR><B>Para:</B> talk@openstreetmap.org<BR><B>Asunto:</B> Re: [OSM-talk]Actually using OpenStreetMap and the usabilityof the current maps<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<P><FONT size=2>On Monday 28 July 2008 16:24:01 Jukka Rahkonen wrote:<BR><BR>> Tilesets are for sure great for serving maps effectively for big audience.<BR>> However, we have already seen that predefined layouts will never make<BR>> everybody happy. Perhaps one day old-fashioned map servers which are<BR>> rendering maps on demand will have more place again. A public WMS server<BR>> delivering OSM data through together with a user contributed library of<BR>> SLD files for styling would be a nice thing to see. Unfortunately it would<BR>> most probably be overloaded and slow :(<BR><BR>For what it's worth... In the next version of Marble[1], we plan on<BR>supporting what we call 'vector tiles'. This means giving all the points,<BR>vectors and polygons of a certain square as one dataset. This dataset will<BR>then be rendered on the fly by Marble.<BR><BR>We hope to achieve at least two advantages:<BR> * The vector tiles will hopefully represent less data than the pixel tiles.<BR> * We will be able to create dramatically different renderings from the same<BR>data, thus removing the limitation of the pre-rendered tiles.<BR><BR>Watch out for more about this in 6 months or so.<BR><BR> -Inge<BR><BR>[1] <A href="http://edu.kde.org/marble/">http://edu.kde.org/marble/</A><BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>talk mailing list<BR>talk@openstreetmap.org<BR><A href="http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk">http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk</A><BR></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>