[OSM-talk] Using digital tablet for drawing maps

[Igor Brejc]

David,

Yes, I noticed this clicking problem with JOSM myself, and it is annoying.
Is it Java or just JOSM-specific problem? In OS (Windows at least), the
mouse-down and mouse-up events are treated separately, so I don't see why it
would be problem if the mouse moves in between.
Anyway, thanks for the info. Looks like I'm going to have to borrow a tablet
and test it out with JOSM before buying.

Igor


On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 12:01 PM, David Earl <david at frankieandshadow.com>wrote:

> On 25/01/2010 10:29, Igor Brejc wrote:
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I'm thinking about buying a digital tablet and use it for drawing maps
> > in JOSM/Potlatch/... Has anyone had any experience with digital tablets
> > and GIS work (or even better - OSM work). I'm considering buying
> > something cheap, like Wacom Bamboo (link is below), but I don't know if
> > it is really usable for this kind of work (compared to a mouse). I find
> > the mouse to be too sensitive and difficult to pinpoint on something
> > (unless I reconfigure it for mapping work each time, which is tedious).
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Igor Brejc
> >
> >
> http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Bamboo-Touch-Small-Tablet/dp/B002OOWC3S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264415098&sr=8-1
> > <
> http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Bamboo-Touch-Small-Tablet/dp/B002OOWC3S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264415098&sr=8-1
> >
>
> I did use a tablet at one point, but I gave up. In principle it should
> be ideal and it is for most drawing and painting programs, and you
> quickly get used to the right button on the pen side and operating menus
> with it.
>
> It's not the tablet that's the problem - an A6 size one is fine. The
> problem is Java. It seems to insist that for a mouse click to be
> recognized properly the coordinates at the down press have to be the
> same as those at the up-press. With a mouse this is a problem sometimes
> if you nudge it, but with a tablet it is impossible.
>
> There is a plugin for JOSM which tries to remedy this (by checking if
> the up and down are within a certain distance of each other). It wasn't
> right and I hacked it a bit, but it still isn't quite right because
> there is often a delay before sensing "mouse" clicks - if you are
> creating a way, you frequently click-click-click quite fast along the
> track, and JOSM quickly gets behind and the mouse tracking gets
> confused. This happens using a mouse as well and is very frustrating,
> but it is much worse with a tablet in my experience.
>
> So I think more could be done in JOSM to work around wjhat are
> essentially failings in Java's mouse handling, but it is not that great
> at the moment. It's not that you can't use it, you just have to be so
> much more deliberate and patient in entering clicks (and you do have to
> have the nearclick plugin)
>
> David
>
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