[OSM-talk] Micromapping [was RFC: Scout Camp]

[Mike Collinson]

At 11:53 PM 11/06/2007, Adam Schreiber wrote:
>On 6/11/07, Mike Collinson <mike at ayeltd.biz> wrote:
>>At 10:40 PM 11/06/2007, Adam Schreiber wrote:
>>>I like the name change for singular camp grounds(KOA, National Park),
>>>but what about the case of mapping the actual camp (Scouts or Church)
>>>that in actuality contain many camp grounds/sites?
>>
>>Do you mean, for example, the overall campsite is a forest area and has multiple small or large areas to put up tents?
>
>That's one possibility.  However, let me use the example of the Boy
>Scout camp I grew up going to.  The camp itself is rather large with
>many outlying wooded areas and activity areas.  Within the core of the
>camp, there are several camp sites.  Each troop would inhabit it's own
>site or share one with another troop for the week.  Each site had its
>own set of tents, trails and latrines.  While the overall camp would
>be labeled Horseshoe Scout Reservation, camp sites would have their
>own names like Dan Beard, Boonesbourgh, Leni Lenapi, Forester, etc. 

There is an interesting general issue partially raised here.  We are currently missing tags and possibly structure to deal with "micromapping" - mapping of facilities and features at high zoom levels, broadly in the 1:1,000 to 1:5,000 range of traditional printed maps.  

OSM was originally envisioned to be just that, a street map.  This implicitly assumes a base map at around 1:10,000 - 1:25,0000 and then zooming out by selectively dropping features.  Micromapping needs its own support and probably debate on whether it should be supported in OSM at all. I certainly think it should.  The opportunity for the general public, NGOs and other organisations to create highly detailed maps of local communities and facilities such as camps, sports, theme parks, resorts, shopping centres ( ... ) and offer them in a global framework to all is just too good to miss.  But there are questions to be looked at.

One issue that has risen in the past is implicit scale - a gate is dot / node on today's OSM map but may need to be a line/way on a micromap.

In this case, there are features, the sub-camp sites, which could use existing tagging but perhaps should not be rendered unless zoomed in right on the facility itself.  And then there will a whole bunch of new tags for things also of distinctly micro-significance - seats, cooking areas, huts, signs and so on.

Mike