[OSM-dev] Distributing a VirtualBox HD-File

[Peter Körner]

Hi

I'm nearly done putting together my Rendering Stack. It makes the 
complete chain from the osm (x)api to the final map accessible via very 
easy commands:

  osm-load --bbox 8.2011,49.9649,8.3278,50.0327
  osm-render --bbox 8.2011,49.9649,8.3278,50.0327

without loosing too much possibilities:

  osm-load --bbox 8.2011,49.9649,8.3278,50.0327 --custom-api \
   http://api06.dev.openstreetmap.org/api/0.6/map?bbox=%s
  osm-load --bbox 8.2011,49.9649,8.3278,50.0327 --file germany.osm.bz2

  osm-render --bbox 8.2011,49.9649,8.3278,50.0327 --type pdf \
   --file mainz --size 8192x4096
  osm-render --bbox 8.2011,49.9649,8.3278,50.0327 --type png \
   --size 16384x8192 --style styles/thinline.xml

Atm I'm still writing the documentation, usage guides for windows and 
linux (mac could/will maybe be added later) so that this set of tools 
will hopefully be usable by not-technicians, e.g. by designers that wish 
to make maps for printing.

The complete system, from a mapnik svn build via postgresql to the 
osm-mpnik-stylesheet is packed into a VirtualBox Harddisk image of
~3.2 GB. Maybe this could be reduced but I don't think it will get below
3 GB. So now I'm unsure how to distribute it.

For the first run I'm going to make a Torrent from it and distribute it 
via my local 6 MBit DSL line, but this is not the best solution for 
not-technicians. A HTTP or FTP Download-Link would be better. Any one 
any idea?

Peter