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I've seen some posts about personalised maps but have got a bit lost with some of the the functionality of different options (tiles, vectors... Beyond me!). Also some of those posts are quite old and I don't know if there are any new solutions.

I am working on a community project where I would like to map local green spaces, which I have started doing through OSM (adding names of parks, woodland etc). I would then like to add various layers - highlighting walking routes between green spaces, or adding things like details of volunteer projects and activities. This is where I would need a personalised map that could be embedded on a website, shared on social media etc.

The next thing I would like to do is have layers which the community could contribute to. For example, with Spring coming up then I will be running a campaign to encourage people to take photos of wildflowers they see while they are out walking. It would be great if people could upload those directly to a map, rather than sending them to me and then me adding them.

I have seen uMap, Leaflet, MapHub, OpenLayers, Mapbox, Maperitive... I don't know if any or all of these would meet the needs outlined above. If anyone could advise on these or alternative solutions I would appreciate it! I would also be open to trying to seek funding for a paid solution, but I don't really know where to start, what type of professional to speak to etc.

asked 15 Mar '21, 09:34

frodshamroots's gravatar image

frodshamroots
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accept rate: 0%

edited 15 Mar '21, 09:38


Hello,

I would start with uMap which would fit most of your needs. On top of a basemap, you can draw lines, points and such, pull data from the OSM database (like paths or parks) using overpass to highlight them (with mapCSS styling) and add a layer with photos. The awkward part will be the collaborative stuff, as user management is crude. Mainly you share editing rights with some user, who will be able to break everything, especially if they are not familiar with the software.

You could pull the images from an external database, for example powered with a gallery software, like piwigo which has a plugin enabling users to add or correct the geo-location of photos. It should be trivial to automatically export a csv list of all the images, which you would then pull into uMap as a specific layer.

You could also use a software like GoGoCarto, which was made especially for cartographic collaboration. It has user-friendly forms to add points, admin or community-driven moderation, and such. But I don't think you can freely draw stuff, or pull data from OSM. You might be able to pull GoGoCarto data from uMap as one layer though.

I don't know MapHub, it seems closed-source.

Leaflet and OpenLayers are js framework to create cartographic web applications. It would be a good building block should you start coding something from scratch.

Maperitive is used to produced raster maps from OSM data, not what you are looking for I think. Mapbox main product has to same aim, but they offer a lot of other services, mostly closed-source though.

If you want to display existing walking routes, you could use Waymarked Trails hiking layer, on top of any basemap you'd like. It only shows official hiking routes mapped in OSM though.

Anyway, you should begin by reading the documentation of the mentioned tools, the OSM wiki is full of information, and test them, to see if you can tweak them to your needs.

Hope this help. Regards.

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answered 15 Mar '21, 14:36

H_mlet's gravatar image

H_mlet
5.4k1781
accept rate: 13%

That certainly does help, thank you very much :)

(16 Mar '21, 07:41) frodshamroots

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question asked: 15 Mar '21, 09:34

question was seen: 3,658 times

last updated: 05 May '21, 09:59

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