[Osmf-talk] Tiles

[Tobias Knerr]

On 02.06.23 at 05:04 Brian M. Sperlongano wrote:
> I acknowledge that there are technology gaps to address.  For example, 
> minutely vector-tile updates are not there yet (full planet renders in 
> about 30 minutes have been demonstrated)

One of the primary purposes of the map on osm.org is to provide feedback 
to contributors, and "why are my edits not (yet) visible on the map" is 
among the top sources of confusion for new contributors, so this is an 
important limitation to overcome.

> In summary, technological advancements have made vector tile rendering 
> and hosting more affordable for individual developers

This is true, but I'm not sure if vector tile technology is sufficiently 
accessible for people who are _not_ developers. Someone with the 
creative skills to create appealing, usable and informative map styles 
isn't necessarily also familiar with hosting and/or cloud services.

Even as a developer, it's still a significant turn-off if I have to 
spend any amount of money and do boring set-up work before I can start 
tinkering with this potentially-interesting tech I've just discovered. I 
expect the majority of people who have some initial curiosity about map 
styles will bounce at that point and we are likely losing significant 
creative potential to these barriers.

To eliminate them, we would have to offer general purpose¹ vector tiles, 
not something tailored to one particular style. This requires further 
innovation, because existing vector tile formats and stacks mostly seem 
to be built around the assumption that creating vector tiles from OSM 
data will involve significant filtering and transformation. That 
assumption limits the potential for using them in creative, productive, 
or unexpected ways and doesn't mesh well with the "any tags you like" 
philosophy either.

To sum this up: I agree that it wouldn't be very useful for OSMF to run 
yet another vector tile service comparable to the widely-available 
existing tech. However, general-purpose vector tiles could be 
transformative, particularly with rapid updates.

Tobias

¹ within the inevitable technological constraints, can't have unfiltered 
data on zoom 0 ...