[mkgmap-dev] Marko is maintaining the mkgmap default style file

Mon Dec 7 10:17:40 GMT 2009

Hi Charlie,

> > In the short term, I will test the amenity=embassy patch that was posted
> > some weeks ago.  I would also like to commit the following, to display
> > speed bumps, humps and chicanes as white circles on the road at zoom levels
> > 120m or closer:
> > 
> > +traffic_calming=* [0x6614 resolution 21]
> > 
> > This may be a little misleading, because the same code is used for
> > natural=rock.  Besides, the Finnish style of Garmin displays it as
> > "kari", which is the word for an underwater rock, something that
> > marine users need to worry about.
> > 
> > If nobody objects to the traffic_calming change, I shall commit it
> > tomorrow.
> > 
> > Best regards,
> > 
> > 	Marko
> > ________________________
> 
> I'm in two minds about the traffic calming patch.  It's of no particular 
> use for pedestrians, and will just clog up the map.  And whilst it would 
> be useful for road users, so would traffic signals, which aren't 
> currently showing up in the default style (or at least, they weren't 
> last time I checked).
> 
> This is why I think we should have a default style repository - one for 
> cyclists, one for pedestrians and one for motorists.

You are right, while the bumps are interesting to wheel-based vehicles
(motored or not), pedestrians usually won't care about them.

(Side note: Pedestrians could at most see traffic_calming=* as an indicator
of a safer street, or perhaps as a warning sign of aggressive drivers who
have made the bumps necessary in the first place and are still not paying
attention to anything else than the speed bumps.  Today's local paper
reported that a car yielded a speed bump to the footway and overran a
14-year-old boy who was walking to the opposite direction, and escaped
the scene.  He must have been speeding quite a bit on the
maxspeed=30 or 40 highway=residential road.)

> Then an additional repository where anyone can contribute their own 
> styles/TYP files, so that the community can learn what tricks, display 
> customisations etc are possible.

Makes sense.  I think that there should be some include mechanism, so
that the common defaults can be pulled to derived styles by reference.
The hierarchy could be something like this:

default
 + pedestrian (on foot)
   + bus routes
 + vehicle
   + pedestrian (rollerskates, skateboards)
   + bicycle
     + mountain bikes
     + touring bikes (omit ways with mtb:scale)
     + racing bikes (omit all unpaved roads from the map)
   + mopeds (omit cycleways without moped=yes)
   + motorcycles and cars
    + hgv

I am not suggesting that we should have all these styles by default.
I would start it small, with two or three maps (for motor vehicles,
touring bicycles and pedestrians).  I think that it is a worthwhile
goal to make an all-purpose map.  I have used my Edge 705 and the
map with default mkgmap style for pedestrian and car navigation,
even though the device is designed for bicycle use.

	Marko