[OSM-talk] JOSM interface direction

[Tapio Sokura]

Paul wrote:
> In the past word processors (if you remembered that far back) use formating commands then 
> people could only see the final product when they print-previewed.

In the past? Even today I do a big part of my "word processing" in a 
normal text editor, usually joe. When I want to see what it looks like 
when printed, I do a preview.

> I suspect thats where JOSM is at now, will the future (far) be able to see real time or 
> instant rendering of there maps?

I much rather see JOSM in its current form, showing the actual data 
instead of one rasterized form of presentation. When you see the actual 
"formatting commands" yourself when editing, you'll pretty much know 
what you get after editing for a while. I guess wysiwyg editing is at 
first easier for newcomers, but I think it's better in the long term to 
get the data correct rather than focus on getting it to look good (in 
one rasterization format).

Anyway I'm not a JOSM developer, just a mostly happy user, so I can't 
really say where it's headed. You might want to have a look at the 
mappaint plugin for JOSM, if you haven't already. Mappaint makes it 
easier to distinguish big roads from smaller ones and footways, renders 
some POIs differently etc enriches the display.

   Tapio