[mkgmap-dev] 0x10 for residential in default style

Fri Feb 11 11:10:31 GMT 2011

Hi Jeroen,

>You're right: I like te map better without the borders on the roads. I 
>made a version of my TYP file with a light grey background (type 0x4b) 
>and all the borders stripped off the line definitions. It still needs 
>tweaking colours and widths, but the general impression is lighter, 
>clearer in MapSource, BaseCamp and the Oregon 550.

Some 15 years ago, when I lived in Germany for a few months, I remember 
the outcry of the renaming of Deutsche Bundesbahn to Deutsche Bahn and 
the accompanying logo renewal. Someone just removed one border around 
the letters DB and charged a large sum for it. One of the proposed 
advantages was clarity on low-resolution media, such as fax paper. The 
fax medium may be obsolete nowadays, but the tiny screen on some 
navigators has a similar if not lower resolution.

>I you want to try, I uploaded a copy with family ID 1 at 
>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20232727/M0000001-JM-no_spaghetti.TYP

Thank you.

>I'd like to hear if the grey background works on your device too.

I am not using a background polygon on my map. It still is solid yellow.  
The contrast between the yellow residential roads and the yellow 
background is too low. All in all, I find the colors a bit pale or 
low-contrast. The contrast between the light blue "sea" and the light 
gray "industrial area" is too low in harbours. Waters could be a darker 
shade of blue.

The orange roads and the light blue waterways are one or two pixels too 
wide for my taste.

I have the feeling that the map draws more slowly with this TYP file. I 
have not tried to measure it.

With these issues corrected and with the default names localized, I 
think that this could be the start of a good alternative to the "default 
TYP file" built into Garmin devices.

Best regards,

	Marko