[Talk-GB] New map style

[Marc Gemis]

On Sat, Oct 31, 2015 at 10:59 PM, Colin Smale <colin.smale at xs4all.nl> wrote:

> The change could have been managed better, like proper announcements a
> couple of months ahead of time, with a date - "On 30th October OSM will
> switch to a new stylesheet for the standard map. For information about what
> this will mean for you, click here" on some main


The change has been discussed since June of this year. Where ? on the
general talk mailing list and on Mateusz' diary. Each entry was also
mentioned in the weeklyOSM (and isn't the announcement for that posted on
this list) ?

The exact date was never announced, but the style is always updated
whenever "it is ready".

As was mentioned elsewhere, the colours of a map are part of the locale
culture. Before arriving to OpenStreetMap, I had never seen such a "weird"
colour scheme. I grew up with Falck and Michelin maps. The current style
reminds me of the latter. The German-style (openstreetmap.de) reminds of of
the former. It took me several years before I learned that the colours were
well known in the UK.

We do need local styles, the French replace e.g. post offices and railway
station icons with the symbols of their  national companies. And I believe
a baguette is representing a bakery. Some asian countries do not like the
hamburger for fast food.

The map was UK-centric, now it is less. But it is still western oriented.
So yes, please go ahead to make your local style, OpenStreetMap will be
better in the end.

regards

m (from Belgium)
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