[OSM-talk] Map tag in Wikipedia

[80n]

Lars
You might want to find out a bit more about Query-to-map being developed by
kolossos.  It shows not just point features but also linear features such as
rivers and roads.  I believe it's hosted on Wikimedia's toolserver and is
intended ultimately to be used on Wikipedia pages.

Details here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Query-to-map

80n


On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 1:26 PM, Lars Aronsson <lars at aronsson.se> wrote:

>
> These days I spend more time in Wikipedia than in OpenStreetMap,
> but I haven't lost my interest in geography. Among the many things
> that need improvement in Wikipedia is the geographic coordinates
> that indicate the location of places, buildings, cities, and such.
>
> The OSM wiki has a <map> tag that looks like this:
> <map lat=63 lon=16.5 z=5 w=360 h=720 />
>
> In the page [[WikiProject Sweden]], this shows a 360x720 pixel
> image based on zoom 5 map tiles centered around 63° N 16.5° E.
>
> Is this a user-friendly way to put a map in a wiki page?  Would
> normal users understand the z= parameter, or should the parameters
> be designed some other way?
>
> Could the editing be made interactive, so that the user can see
> the map on the edit page and zoom and pan, and when pressing the
> "save" button the new coordinates are saved?  This would take out
> the hard work for "numerically challenged" contributors.
>
> Should we try to introduce the map tag in Wikipedia?  Has it
> already been tried, and what was the reaction?  Do we have any bad
> experience from its use in the OSM, to learn and improve from?
>
> It's not easy to convince the tech staff of Wikipedia to introduce
> new features. They probably receive such requests daily. The code
> must run, it must scale very well, and be very stable. If we
> really want to introduce the <map> tag (or something similar) in
> Wikipedia, we must provide really good arguments.
>
> Fortunately, there is a Wikipedia developer meeting on April 3-5,
> where I could bring this forward.
>
> In Wikipedia, map coordinates are typically placed in an infobox,
> as seen on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden
> or at the right top corner of the page,
> as seen on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6k_Runestone
>
> In either case, the coordinates form a link to a switchboard page
> titled GeoHack where you can chose your favorite map site,
> including Google Maps or OpenStreetMap.
>
> Next to the coordinates is also a little blue marble. If you click
> on this, you bring up a pop-up map called WikiMiniAtlas.  This
> little map can be panned and zoomed and features links to other
> articles.  But it uses primitive VMAP-0 data as background and has
> no proper projection, just the naive x=lon, y=lat.
>
> In Wikipedia, the coordinates are given like this:
>
> {{coord|58|17|42|N|14|46|32|E|display=title|type:landmark}}
>
> Even though decimal degrees can also be used, most articles use
> degrees-minutes-seconds.  The display=title parameter puts the
> coordinate in the upper right corner.  The type:landmark parameter
> (yes, a colon is used here, not equal sign) sets the scale for the
> resulting map. Of course, zoom=5 is specific to OpenStreetMap.
> Other map sites use different definition of zoom or scale.  The
> GeoHack switchboard page converts type:landmark to the appropriate
> zoom for each target map site.
>
> I think WikiMiniAtlas is fine, despite some flaws. But when I
> explain this to others, even experienced wikipedians, many say
> they didn't figure they could click on the blue marble to show the
> pop-up map.  That's why I think an inline presentation (like the
> map tag) would be a necessary improvement.  More visible maps will
> lead to more eyeballs, finding more errors in incorrect data.
>
>
>
> --
>  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
>  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se
>
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> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
>
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