[OSM-dev] OpenStreetMap Carto release v4.12.0

[Christoph Hormann]

On Saturday 23 June 2018, Sven Geggus wrote:
>
> I'm doing this for German style for more than 2 years now without
> that much of a hassle up till this release.
>
> This will now kill my ability to keep on doing this at least as
> roads.mss is concerned!

This is to be expected.  You are kind of spoiled because during the last 
year this is about the only larger technologically more sophisticated 
change in the style.

Discussion of this change can be found in:

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/2640

and discussion leading up to this in:

https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/issues/110

The reason for the technological complexity of this and the resulting 
mangling of the code is the lack of support to render lines with a 2d 
pattern in Mapnik.

I still hope Lucas will write up a few details about the technical 
approach that would enable you to more easily re-implement this in a 
different style.

Note there have been voices to choose a more conservative approach to 
rendering unpaved roads in OSM-Carto - like yet another form of dashing 
in addition to the various dashing types already used in road 
rendering.  There are very good cartographic reasons not to do that 
though.

All in all this is a good example for OSM-Carto being at a crossroads 
(and having been for quite some time) between staying avant-garde and 
pushing the boundaries of cartographic design and technology or being 
satisfied with shuffling the options offered by the cartographic 
mainstream within the technological framework used - and which, due to 
Mapnik and CartoCSS being essentially unmaintained, becomes more narrow 
and limiting every year.

-- 
Christoph Hormann
http://www.imagico.de/