[Talk-GB] Map styles and map servers (not really the Rossendale Way any more)

[Mark Goodge]

On 24/01/2022 19:44, Andy Townsend wrote:
> On 24/01/2022 19:01, Mark Goodge wrote:
>>
>> The cost isn't the issue, a least to begin with (I'm not sure how well 
>> it scales under load, and what the implications would be for that). I 
>> have looked at running my own OSM tileserver, and from a sysadmin 
>> perspective, there's nothing prohibitive about that. But the styling 
>> is another issue; I've had a look at OSM Carto and, frankly, it makes 
>> my head hurt even trying to comprehend it. The Switch2OSM 
>> documentation itself isn't particularly complimentary about Carto, 
>> describing it as a compromise and complicated. 
> 
> I suspect that I might have written that bit :)
> 
> When Richard set up the switch2osm site initially there was discussion 
> about what map style would be best to feature.  My recollection (and I 
> could be wrong because it was all a _very_ long time ago) was that he 
> favoured a simpler style that users could modify easily such as the old 
> OSM Bright raster style, and I was worried that it there were enough 
> issues with it (such as rendering everything with a "name" tag as that 
> name on the map) that it would need significant effort to get to the 
> point were we could really feature it.

Actually, a good starting point for a UK style would be the old Carto 
style before it was internationalised to match the road colour 
conventions adopted by Bing and Google.

>>> * as an example, map.atownsend.org.uk costs me < £20 per month, so if 
>>> you split the monthly running cost between a few people it's less 
>>> than the price of a beer at a monthly OSM meetup.
>>
>> What hardware (or VM) spec is that running on?
> A Hetzner CX41 (see https://www.hetzner.com/cloud ).  If you wanted to 
> pay a bit less a CX31, would probably work for just GB or UK.

I presume that memory is the key, here?

>> There was some talk on this list a while back about creating a UK 
>> style. But that seems to have gone quiet. I'd be interested in getting 
>> involved if enough other people wanted to resurrect it.
> 
> Nick Whitelegg did some work at 
> https://github.com/orgs/osmuk/repositories a few years ago now - see 
> https://github.com/osmuk/website_experimental has a bit of an 
> explanation.  I'm happy to help with answering questions with map styles 
> etc. but can't really commit to "site development or maintenance" - but 
> I bet that there are lots of people on this list who do that as a day 
> job and would be more than willing to help!

I'll take a look at some of those, when time permits, ta.

Mark