NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum

Hi All,

I am new to OpenStreetMap and was wondering if there is a recommended best practice to group categories with an identifiable colour or patterned system?

For example, I am trying to identify different types of clay houses/buildings in Germany. Is there a form of best practice to categorize the different types of houses via colouring or patterns?

Thanks

Vincent

asked 23 May '12, 19:37

Vincentm's gravatar image

Vincentm
6222
accept rate: 0%


No, the renderer and its stylesheet define what colors to use for which object (that is, Mapnik for the main page). If you want to change those colors, you have to render your own maps.

permanent link

answered 23 May '12, 20:27

scai's gravatar image

scai ♦
33.3k21309459
accept rate: 23%

Your question seems to confuse two things, namely OpenStreetMap data and map styles. Mappers and rendering style designers have separate tasks:

  • Mappers collect data about reality. For example, they add the information "here is a building made from clay" to the database.
  • Rendering style designers define what aspects influence the appearance of the map in which way. For example, they define "buildings made from clay should appear as a light brown shape".

So if you want a new class of information to appear on the map, you also need to do two things:

  • Check whether there is already a documented way of mapping this on the wiki or elsewhere. If there isn't, invent new tags to represent the information and use them on objects in the database (preferably after discussing your tagging ideas with other mappers).
  • Convince style designers to take this into account when rendering maps, or render your own maps.

This probably doesn't answer your question entirely, but I hope it helps you to understand what exactly it is that you want to do and to ask a more specific question that will result in better answers.

permanent link

answered 23 May '12, 23:54

Tordanik's gravatar image

Tordanik
12.0k15106147
accept rate: 35%

Thanks all. I was told by my professor that the when rendering, the style sheets would automatically create the colours and patterns. But after reading your comments it sounds like the renderer (myself) can nominate the colours or patterns etc. I just hope that after allocating a colour and pattern to the different clay houses, that the map can merge the different combinations to show that an area of the map is mixed with different types of clay houses.

permanent link

answered 24 May '12, 13:48

Vincentm's gravatar image

Vincentm
6222
accept rate: 0%

Your answer
toggle preview

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

  • *italic* or _italic_
  • **bold** or __bold__
  • link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
  • image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
  • numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
  • to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
  • basic HTML tags are also supported

Question tags:

×193
×75
×38
×9
×5

question asked: 23 May '12, 19:37

question was seen: 4,085 times

last updated: 24 May '12, 13:48

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum