[Talk-GB] invisible

Chris Saunter cds at durhamsi.co.uk
Tue Jan 18 11:02:53 GMT 2011


Hi Chris,

I've read through the replies to your post and my take on this is
client side rendering - it's hard to make this as pretty or neat as
bitmap tiles, but for random exploration of the dataset it's
powerfull.

Pre-generating tiles for every concievable view of the OSM dataset is
not a very efficient way of dealing with different people wanting to
view different geographic areas in different styles.

I have an iOS app that renders vector map data on the fly, to allow
configurable rendering with selectable views (contours, waterways
etc).  Streaming data to the app is a bit of a problem, so it runs
from an offline binary cache that is pre-optimised for fast rendering.

I can imagine a similar approach for OSM as a whole, where there is a
vector data server that provides data pre-optimised for configurable,
on the fly rendering.  This could then be used in a variety of ways
such as:

1) Custom viewer applications, mobile or desktop - with local cacheing
of vector data this is blindingly fast
2) Browser based viewer using javascript - this could be a hybrid
bitmap/vector renderer that annotates bitmap tiles

The key thing is to make a vector viewing tool, not a full-blown GIS
tool - so an emphasis on redraw speed and ease of use over raw power.

I have some experience and thoughts of this to add if anyone is interested.

Regards,
Chris Saunter

On 17 January 2011 23:05, Chris Moss <moschris at googlemail.com> wrote:
> I'm interested in the GB waterways and it seems there's quite a bit of work
> done but it's totally invisible. Is anyone working on a layer like the cycle
> map, which leaps out from the overlays as the only minority interest yet
> developed?
>
> It's not the only layer I'd like to see. What about walking paths, railways,
> contours,  points of interest, postcode areas, administrative boundaries,
> constituencies, bus routes, etc., etc.
>
> Shouldn't maps allow you to concentrate on whatever you're interested in?
> Can someone please explain to me how or if this can be done with
> openstreetmap?
>
> Chris
>
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