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While I love OSM the layers are bad UX. Currently the main site ( https://www.openstreetmap.org https://www.openstreetmap.org ) displays 7 layers: - Standard -

by sydd 3y ago

While I love OSM the layers are bad UX. Currently the main site ( https://www.openstreetmap.org https://www.openstreetmap.org ) displays 7 layers: - Standard -- OK, lets say this the universal default. The name is a quite non-descriptive, why not call it roads? Or driving? - CyclOSM -- Why not call it cycle map? This is some internal project name? - Cycle map -- duplicate, why does it need 2? - Transport map -- What kind of transport? Call it "Public Transport". - Tracestrack Topo -- no idea what this means. - OVPNKarte -- again no idea. Looks like another public transport map. Why does it need 2? - Humanitarian -- Here I have really no idea. Is this for disaster relief personnel, so it displays hospitals and such?

aqwsde 3y ago
"ÖPNV" (Öffentlicher PersonenNahVerkehr) is the German abbreviation for "public transport". And "Karte" <-> "map"
usrusr 3y ago
OSM presentation configurations are a bit like Linux distributions (only much, much smaller): yes, having more than one causes a lot of seemingly avoidable mental load, but there is little doubt that the design by committee implied by a single version would be much worse.
- junon 3y ago
  Give people the option to create, import and export their own on the official site, and a means for browsing a catalog of them. You can infer how good they are (and thus their ranking) by how many interactions are made with the map or something, or just use a rating system that can be done anonymously. No design by committee, and no random, unclear layers for the average user.
  - usrusr 3y ago
    The map on osm.org is leaflet based, pre-rendered png tiles. Each theme is a huge global tile pyramid, and because they are osm and not some random osm redistributor they better have those pyramids refreshed quite frequently. No, you don't simply create a "themehub" platform on the side.
PetitPrince 3y ago
I agree the "what it is for" of each layer could be improved. Digging up the wiki [1], there's (I'm aggregating the content of "significance" and "uniqueness"table): - Standard: "Attempts to do many things at once (Jack of all trades, master of none)" - CyclOSM: "Contour lines. Cycle map. World coverage" - Cycle Map: "Contour lines. "Focuses on bicycle features, shows bicycle routes" - Transport Map: "Displays routes, and public transport. Roads are not most prominent feature." - ÖPNVKarte: "Displays routes, and public transport. Roads are not most prominent feature." - Humanitarian: "Focuses on the developing countries with an emphasis on features related to development and humanitarian work. Good contrasting style in terms of overall colour choices. Terrain shading. Many new/different icons (particularly for basic amenities in developing countries) and more nuanced surface track-type rendering. " [1] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Featured_tile_layers https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Featured_tile_layers
sdfghswe 3y ago
Thanks for this. Turns out I'm not just stupid.
mtmail 3y ago
https://mc.bbbike.org/mc/ https://mc.bbbike.org/mc/ allows to compare 250 map styles, up to 8 per page (selector is bottom right of page). I'd like to see the snow map, rail infrastructure and power infrastructure map (https://openinframap.org/ https://openinframap.org/) added but it'd be overwhelming.
timeon 3y ago
Default site is primary for mappers.

by sydd 3y ago

aqwsde 3y ago

"ÖPNV" (Öffentlicher PersonenNahVerkehr) is the German abbreviation for "public transport". And "Karte" <-> "map"

usrusr 3y ago

OSM presentation configurations are a bit like Linux distributions (only much, much smaller): yes, having more than one causes a lot of seemingly avoidable mental load, but there is little doubt that the design by committee implied by a single version would be much worse.

junon 3y ago
Give people the option to create, import and export their own on the official site, and a means for browsing a catalog of them. You can infer how good they are (and thus their ranking) by how many interactions are made with the map or something, or just use a rating system that can be done anonymously. No design by committee, and no random, unclear layers for the average user.
- usrusr 3y ago
  The map on osm.org is leaflet based, pre-rendered png tiles. Each theme is a huge global tile pyramid, and because they are osm and not some random osm redistributor they better have those pyramids refreshed quite frequently. No, you don't simply create a "themehub" platform on the side.

PetitPrince 3y ago

I agree the "what it is for" of each layer could be improved. Digging up the wiki [1], there's (I'm aggregating the content of "significance" and "uniqueness"table): - Standard: "Attempts to do many things at once (Jack of all trades, master of none)" - CyclOSM: "Contour lines. Cycle map. World coverage" - Cycle Map: "Contour lines. "Focuses on bicycle features, shows bicycle routes" - Transport Map: "Displays routes, and public transport. Roads are not most prominent feature." - ÖPNVKarte: "Displays routes, and public transport. Roads are not most prominent feature." - Humanitarian: "Focuses on the developing countries with an emphasis on features related to development and humanitarian work. Good contrasting style in terms of overall colour choices. Terrain shading. Many new/different icons (particularly for basic amenities in developing countries) and more nuanced surface track-type rendering. " [1] https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Featured_tile_layers https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Featured_tile_layers

sdfghswe 3y ago

Thanks for this. Turns out I'm not just stupid.

mtmail 3y ago

https://mc.bbbike.org/mc/ https://mc.bbbike.org/mc/ allows to compare 250 map styles, up to 8 per page (selector is bottom right of page). I'd like to see the snow map, rail infrastructure and power infrastructure map (https://openinframap.org/ https://openinframap.org/) added but it'd be overwhelming.

timeon 3y ago

Default site is primary for mappers.