[OSM-talk] FW: Graphical generation of Garmin maps from OSM data

[Richard Fairhurst]

On 22 Dec 2006, at 19:02, Jochen Topf wrote:

> Converting from OSM to Garmin or Shapefiles is a totally different
> problem then converting from OSM to SVG or AI or PDF. In the first  
> case
> you are converting vector data from one format to another. In the  
> second
> case you have to do the actual rendering, i.e. deciding that a  
> motorway
> should be 4px wide and blue with black border or whatever.

No, that's not true. Or, at least, it's not true in all circumstances.

As a cartographer drawing a map in Illustrator I _don't_ want my  
geodata to be supplied 'styled'. I don't want the automatic  
conversion tool to make the decisions that a motorway should be 4px  
wide and blue. That's my job as a cartographer, that's what I use  
Illustrator to do - and to be honest, Illustrator contains much  
better tools for applying styles than any of us is going to be able  
to write in 100 or so lines of C++ (or Perl, or whatever).

What might be useful is to have ways with common properties grouped  
in Illustrator layers - so one layer of motorways, one of trunk  
roads, etc. Alternatively, the properties could be marked in the  
Illustrator comments field. But exported ready-styled? No thanks.

cheers
Richard