Offline OSM vector file plugin to edit in the field - OBF vector format or other

[Holger Mappt]

Hi Pierre,

I can only repeat what the others wrote already, but with different words :)

Even in the "northern countries" internet access can be a problem if you
are in a rural area and have to use your mobile phone to connect to the
internet. JOSM does everything it can to support that.

JOSM caches background tiles (i.e. imagery), but only for the zoom
levels you used before. I have a workflow with Mapserver
(http://mapserver.org/) to calculate tiles from other zoom levels, but
that is complicated and nothing for a plugin.

The OSM data itself is vector data and you need to download some data to 
be able to edit it anyway, so you have everything you need to work 
offline. JOSM has different styles to render that data (Edit - 
Preferences - Map Settings - Map Paint Styles). Is it a certain 
rendering style you are looking for? Or do you want to see an area that 
is too large to download the data upfront?

To implement a rendering engine like your smartphone app in JOSM is not 
feasible. But you can connect to one with WMS or TMS if you find one 
that runs on your local machine. Can someone recommend a local service 
that does that?

Regards,
Holger


On 2017-02-26 at 04:08 +0100 Pierre Béland wrote:
> Hi Dirk
> What I suggest is that JOSM adapt to different operational
> context out of our northern countries with high speed internet. To
> navigate with OSM in JOSM should be as easier as smarthpone offline
> applications for people that need to work offline because of bad /
> expensive access to internet networks.  My experience with
> smarthpones applications is that they are reliable, they provide
> fluidity. JOSM Caching is surely not as easy and reliable as these
> offline maps.  And badly, moving in an area with no internet
> connection, you realize that your setups are not ok and you have no
> background imagery.
>
> I agree that Obf is not a standard. The best would be that one
> standard emerge for offline vector files. In the meantime, what can
> we do to adapt to all the countries / areas without high internet
> inexpensive bandwith?
>
> regard Pierre
>
>
> De : Dirk Stöcker Envoyé le : samedi 25 février 2017 16h05 Objet :
> Re: Offline OSM vector file plugin to edit in the field - OBF vector
> format or other
>
> On Sat, 25 Feb 2017, Pierre Béland wrote:
>
>> Smarthphones did provide us access to all of Haiti on OSMAnnd or
>> Maps.Me. Our team was able to store tracks and waypoints on our
>> phones. We did also use Mapillary and ODK tools. But at the end of
>> the day, we could not edit the data in JOSM, bringing in these
>> various infos to compare with the OSM map as a background. This,
>> even if I tried previously to cache OSM tiles for the area, I did
>> not have access to these tiles while in the field with no internet
>> access. A cache could be a solution. A better solution is to Add an
>> Offline OSM Vector map plugin to JOSM. This would be a great
>> enhancement for OSM contributors that experience difficulty to
>> access data online.
>
> I don't understand what you request at all.
>
> - JOSM has tile caches which usually are small, but you can increase
> size - JOSM is an vector map editor - its main task is to display
> vector data - JOSM can load stored offline data files in XML and also
> PBF format
>
> Everything already there.