[OSM-talk] Mapnik viewer for OSM data - UI suggestions?

[Nick Whitelegg]

>> One of the OSM projects I'm hoping to work on is a Mapnik GUI renderer 
for 
>> ..osm files (and live API data, cached locally, and PostGIS databases), 

>> based on the Mapnik viewer. However what would be good is to get some 
user 
>> interface suggestions from people. The aim is to try and make it as 
easy 
>> as possible for people to render, and print, custom Mapnik maps.

>Are you asking people which of Mapnik's many knobs you think need 
>exposing in your UI? Or have you chosen a set of knobs but want to know 
>how best to present those capabilities in a usable way?

>If the former, where can we find a list of knobs to choose from? If the 
>latter, which knobs have you chosen?

My idea is to try and shield the user from the XML file altogether. Rather 
than get a user to open an XML file, I'd like users to be able to simply 
open an OSM file, download data from the API, or retrieve data from a 
PostGIS database, and then use the UI to define styles for OSM key/value 
combinations. Ideally also I'd like users to be able to select high level 
types (which map to certain key/value combinations) as Potlatch already 
does.

I'd also like an "OSM browser" mode, where a user can pan the map and new 
data gets downloaded from the API, and then cached locally.

I'd also like the users to be able to define, and order, layers for their 
map.

Nick