[OSM-dev] Units in the Mapnik .xml file?

[Ulf Lamping]

Richard Fairhurst schrieb:
> Ulf Lamping wrote:
>   
>> NO!!! The real entry barrier is a lot of people with IMHO strange
>> opinions how things should be. I remember something like: "We don't want
>> to have too much details in the map - even at zoomlevel 17" is one of
>> the reasons that completely drove me away from doing anything in the
>> osmarender / mapnik regard.
>>     
> That's not strange - that's the essence of good cartography.
>   
I know.

BTW: Your "Why mashups Suck (and Cartography Matters)" presentation at 
SOTM2007 was brilliant in that regard - thanks for this!

Unfortunately, currently the barrier to build your own maps with OSM 
data is too high for most people (even developers). Hopefully, this will 
change as OSM becomes even more prominent :-)
> Personally I see Osmarender as the "community" map and the Mapnik  
> layer as "OSM's answer to Google Maps", which would suggest that the  
> place for completeness is Osmarender. But as it's not a project I'm  
> involved in, it's not really any of my business.
>   
So basically we have now: two maps trying to be the nicest looking maps 
on earth - and in the end both looking more or less like a google map clone.

But what we don't have is an "official showcase" what you could *really 
do* with the map data - being better than google maps. And bringing to 
the "official osm maps" a feeling of "there's a lot more than streets in 
osm" would be at least one way to do it ...

Another problem is feedback to the mappers. The problem here is: "If it 
doesn't appear on the map, why should I do the effort to add it" ...


Regards, ULFL

P.S: Having all the experiments that people advertise on the OSM list is 
nice to see, but that's not visible to the osm "visitor" which takes a 
look at "the map". So while it's nice to see what people actually do 
already with the data, it doesn't help in the "showcase" thought I've 
mentioned above.