[OSM-talk] Tagging FOR the renderer

[Daniel Koć]

W dniu 17.05.2015 22:22, moltonel 3x Combo napisał(a):

> Did you even try the existing tools ? Tilemilll is very userfriendly,
> and if Joe or Jane has trouble setting it up, they can just use the
> MapBox instance. There's very little skill needed to start tweaking an
> existing style, and the learning curve is IMHO not too steep,
> considering how intrinsically complicated the task is.

Yes, I did some initial work with Tilemill and plan to go even further. 
I think it's a very nice tool (well, I hope I'll be able to open more 
than a few tabs once =} ), but why do you think it's existence and great 
UI are all one needs?

My personal problem is setting it on my version of Ubuntu with right 
database and Mapnik. Also I mentioned average Joe or Jane, not average 
Geek or Nerd. ;-} Even if they will be able to start working with 
TileMill, they probably won't be ready to set their own tiling server 
for friends, family or coworkers.

> I have no idea how you'd apply P2P to map style design. It sounds like
> you; ve heard of a great technology, and want to apply it to every
> problem without fully understanding the technology and/or the problem.

I even used it once on OSM - it was called Tiles w home. My reasoning is 
simple: we are very decentralized, but still use plain old centralized 
servers with only few styles to render. Why not create a lightweight 
platform for people where we just let them connect, exchange their 
styles and share rendering/tiles?

I may be wrong, but that's just the idea to test. Sorry if I was not too 
clear what I mean.

> I assure you the osm-carto devs are competent and take those things
> into account. It's a design decision, they want the map to be pretty
> as well, not just a show-everything endeavour. They've also stoped
> rendering some things that they felt didn't match the usecase.
> Nevertheless, they managed to continually increase the data density,
> while making the style more eye-pleasing. Congrats to them.

You don't have to assure me: +1 - it's quite nice map and kudos for 
devs! But still underused in my opinion. Being technically competent is 
one thing and there are other problems also - I'm an active member 
trying to be more of a developer too and I know osm-carto from inside to 
some degree.

We even don't know exactly what is the usecase now - is it still a map 
"for the mappers" to be used as a way of checking your input or just a 
general one? We already have another general one, much less detailed 
(MapQuest Open), which is probably more eye-pleasing because of this, so 
I guess default should be more "working assistance", but the feel is 
it's not so much.

> That said, you really shouldn't focus too much on "the default map
> style". Stop puting it on a pedestal, there are plenty of other
> high-quality styles, and one size does not fit all. The fact that
> anyone can make his own style (and that the data is rich enough to
> warrant it) is one of OSM's strenghts. I wish we could emphasize other
> syles more on osm.org.

I'm happy the data can be used in many places and for different 
purposes, but where is the map for the mappers - people wanting to see 
their precious input? How can people find it? I think problems with 
rendering as innocent thing as a fountain (how much bloat would it be if 
we render it?) tells something about what is still missing.

-- 
"The train is always on time / The trick is to be ready to put your bags 
down" [A. Cohen]