[Merkaartor] Patch updated: Enhance track visibility

Yves Goergen nospam.list at unclassified.de
Fri Jul 10 19:14:16 BST 2009


On 06.07.2009 01:49 CE(S)T, Chris Browet wrote:
> - I'd rather put the Preferences setting in "Visual"
> - I'd put it under "Colors", with the possibility to change the track
> segments color. Maybe besides "Background"...

I think it could fit pretty well just below the other colours. So a new
line below "Relations" could look like this:

GPX tracks   [Colour picker]   [x] Use basic track appearance

> - I'd rather call the setting "Alternate GPX track drawing" or something
> like that (more neutral than "Enhanced")

Okay, the "enhance" was meant for the "visibility", which I believe
really is better like this. Maybe it's not better in all cases, but some
cases already qualify for better. So what about "Use basic track
appearance"? Or "Use basic track drawing", or "Use simple track whatever".

> - I'm a bit afraid that it is not obvious enough that it is not a plain
> road, so that it could be confusing to new users. Don't you think some
> kind of dashed lines would be better?

We're only drawing track segments, right? What would a great number of
tiny track segments look like when they're drawn as a dashed line? I
haven't tried, just because Google Earth doesn't and I'm afraid it would
look more complex and maybe even I don't how to describe it... Not pretty.

> OTOH, it makes working with the tracks downloaded from OSM completely
> unusable in crowded areas.

I never download tracks from OSM. I wouldn't even know what to do with
them. They're a line. No data about how precise it is, or what it is at
all (a track, a road, a primary road?). I don't like the idea of simply
adding vectors for the sake of vectors. What makes OSM so great is the
additional data. Street names, surface condition, max speeds, access
restrictions, lanes, things to see along the way and the loads of other
tags there is. So when I make a map, I go see it for myself.

Anyway, crowded areas are always difficult. You need to either zoom in
further or filter away unnecessary data.

-- 
Yves Goergen "LonelyPixel" <nospam.list at unclassified.de>
Visit my web laboratory at http://beta.unclassified.de




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