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Hi,

I am new to maps and there are so many new phrases, tools and languages described on different websites, especially in OpenStreetMap website. I admire so many people who are involved in that for decades!

I would like to understand better how can I do the following in the most simple way:

  1. Create a website where one can search for a city for example and zoom as much as needed
  2. Use black-white theme or create one? (the same theme should be used in front-end and back-end) Also, not to show street names, buildings etc, but for example, streets, water etc.
  3. When user is done, to store information about selected area and from back-end to be able to print high-quality map, hopefully as a vector, although it looks like raster is only possible option. Or not?

So, what I understood so far is that there are OSM maps and other maps, like Google, Bing etc... These maps are made from tiles (png) of different quality. Files are stored on different servers. Different applications are using existing servers or they store maps on their servers? How?

The main thing is: How can I use high quality maps for printing, how can I download them? I tried to use Maperitive - as a part of back-end process, but how can I use the same black-white high quality theme on backend and the same theme (low-quality) on front-end, so that it can be WYSIWYG?

I used leaflet for front-end. I am struggling with that for several days already.

Thank you in advance!

asked 28 Apr '16, 16:42

tijana's gravatar image

tijana
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accept rate: 0%

edited 28 Apr '16, 16:44

Any other solution, guys?

(02 May '16, 17:58) tijana

There's a project called maposmatic that does approximately what you want. The source code for maposmatic is open so you could run that, with a style of your own, on your own server. Maposmatic doesn't, as far as I know, render its own tiles so you'd have to add that component but that shouldn't be too difficult since you will already have the rendering set up for Maposmatic itself.

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answered 28 Apr '16, 20:26

Frederik%20Ramm's gravatar image

Frederik Ramm ♦
82.5k927201273
accept rate: 23%

edited 28 Apr '16, 21:36

aseerel4c26's gravatar image

aseerel4c26 ♦
32.6k18248554

As far as I've heard setting up MapOSMatic is a pita not so easy since it makes certain assumptions about a specific Mapnik version and similar stuff. But maybe this will change the more people try to set it up.

(29 Apr '16, 08:27) scai ♦

Thanks guys! I will probably try to configure all of that. Anyway, is there any more simple way? There are so many things to be configured for this to work. My idea was to use some existing service which will render maps in my browser, I would remember coordinates and then in a backend application like Maperitive enter coordinates and print selected area. So, download high quality maps and print them (export as a pdf or svg). The problems are: 1. Same high quality (black and white style without street names etc) for a website and back-end 2. High quality vectors are needed, rather then raster. I cannot understand everything completely. I used stamen on website and Maperitive. The quality is bad. It is type of the map or something, right? And different things are rules - which I try to configure in Maperitive, but how can I use it on a website? You see... not familiar enough.. :( To help you get better picture, I found something similar: https://www.mapiful.com/ I see they use Leaflet, something from google maps.. probably for search. Do they have their own server which store all tiles...? Or they are using existing one?I still don't get the connection between apps, maps etc :(

(29 Apr '16, 14:29) tijana

OSM is data. This data is placed in a database. From this database a renderer generates tiles (images) that make a map using a certain style. This database can also be used to calculate routes between 2 points. The OSM data can be placed in many different databases (or even files). Those maps can be printed or shown on a website. When shown on a website javascript libraries such as leaflet can be used to make interactive sites. I guess Mapiful is using their own server (database, renderer) with their own specific style.

The original OSM data is vector data and can easily be scaled for web or printing. The maps you see on e.g. osm.org are rendered for screen and the quality might be too low for print.

(03 May '16, 16:50) escada

In general, have a look at the OSM wiki about OSM on paper.

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answered 04 May '16, 19:23

stephan75's gravatar image

stephan75
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accept rate: 6%

I've just created a website with custom map editor so I might be able to help. You can see what we've done here https://positiveprints.com/product/custom-map-art/

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answered 19 Oct '20, 12:46

atomowk's gravatar image

atomowk
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2

Please note that as per our license, anyone who interacts with your map web page must be made aware of the data source being OpenStreetMap; this is currently not the case as the OSM data source is hidden somewhere in the FAQ. Anyone you ship a map to will similarly have to be made aware of the data source and that it is ODbL licensed, so make sure to include an appropriate notice in your shipped product. If your customer then proceeds to publicly use the work (eg by hanging it in a public space), they, too, will have to ensure that those who see the work are suitably informed of its data source.

(19 Oct '20, 13:44) Frederik Ramm ♦
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question asked: 28 Apr '16, 16:42

question was seen: 8,116 times

last updated: 19 Oct '20, 13:44

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