[Openstreetmap] Re: Manhattan in OSM

[Ben Gimpert]

On 17 May 2005, at 20:46, Petter Reinholdtsen wrote:

>> Make sure you have a Java friendly browser and an OpenStreetMap
>> login.  And be sure to try zooming out to see the whole
>> island. Street names and ZIP codes have also been imported, but are
>> not (yet!) visible in the editor GUI applet.
>
> How did you get those imported?  I didn't know it was possible to add
> such info into OSM yet.

The GUI applet editor does not (yet) provide the options to add key / 
value pairs to different OSM elements like streets, segments, etc. But 
just that sort of data can be dealt with via the XMLRPC interface, 
which my TIGER import script exploits. So if you're curious, the keys 
"name" and "zipCode" should be appropriately set for the whole 
Manhattan island.

>> I will look into importing the rest of the U.S.  once we come into
>> more significant hard drive space.
>
> What are the current limits?  I've been careful not to import the
> complete GPS point data set for Oslo, to avoid overflowing the
> database.  Is this a real danger or not?

Frankly the server can be a bit fragile right now -- we struggled with 
the 9000 streets in Manhattan. So maybe, just as an estimate, try to 
stay around 5000 streets...? And your import script should have a very 
long "timeout" (10 minutes is good) as well as a delay (0.05 seconds is 
good) between successive XMLRPC calls. When we get some real hardware, 
these goofy concerns should go away.

>> It is my hope that importing public domain street map data will
>> provide a base from which users can add interesting metadata, like
>> favorite pubs, restaurants and other points of interest.
>
> Is it possible to add such metadata at the moment?  I have a few
> locations I would like to add, but do not know how to do it. :)

See above. At the moment, metadata can only be dealt with via the 
XMLRPC API. The key / value exposure in the editor is a high priority.

>> Rob McKinnon has also made progress on an SVG-based renderer for the
>> OpenStreetMap static pages, the view of map segments outside of the
>> editor. Please drop Steve or me an email if you're interested in
>> helping us write code.
>
> SVG export sounds cool.  But we need to have a simple map image export
> as well, to make sure our dependency requirements are low and that as
> many people as possible can see the map data

I agree. And I believe we should have two "levels," one level that 
renders to SVG and another that snapshots the SVG as a PNG which will 
be sent over to plain 'ole browsers.

Thanks for your email Peter.