Rendering and renders

In contrast to Ocad, the editors in CAMO does not show exactly how the printed map will look and it is not possible to print it directly. To get the final map image file, you have to use a render which create the image file from your map data. OSM use two different ediors:  Mapnik and  Osmarender. Mapnik is rather difficult to install and can't use the map data directly without conversion, therefore only Osmarender have been adopted for making orienteering maps.

Its output is  SVG image files. All major modern web browsers except Internet Explorer can show SVG images (Adobe have a plugin for IE to show SVG). Otherwise I recommend to download  Inkscape which is a good vector graphics editor. Since the output is vector graphics, it is easy to enlarge by e.g. 50% if you want 1:10000 instead of 1:15000 and also choose what pixel density to use when printing the map.

Download and install

Osmarender is an XSL file, which will do the necessary transformations to get the SVG image according to the rule file. For doing this transformations, it is necessary to have an XSL transformer program. You could use a web browser that support XSL, e.g. Firefox to view the map directly and with some addons even save them (e.g  Web Developer and click View generated source). Otherwise you need a program that can do the transformation,  see a list here. For Linux and Mac Os you can use xsltproc which is usually already installed.

Now download Osmarender. There is a special version for COMO so you must download this and not the OSM standard version. Download from here: osmarender/xslt/osmarender.xsl

You also need a rule file for doing the transformations, which is the file that makes the map look like an orienteering map. This files is different if you want to make an isom, issom or some other map. You also need a catalogue with icons. todo: fix zip-file.

Bézier curves

post-production, makes a bit more softly curves.

Download  http://svn.openstreetmap.org/applications/rendering/tilesAtHome-dev/tags/Ulm/lines2curves.pl. Install Perl. You probably need to install Math::Vec, from here:  http://search.cpan.org/dist/Math-Vec/ (read readme instructions). 

lines2curves.pl map.svg > mapBC.svg

Rendering problems

Current rendering problems or where improvements would be good:

  • Ruin with dashes (gap in the middle of segment)
  • Major power line (no fill in middle). Area? Maybe can modify osmarender using  SVG masking feature
  • Add/move/delete tags/markers on lines. Need to adjust the position of markers on lines, if they not appear where they are wanted. possible solution: "tags:yes/no/indicated/unlessindicated"
    • tags:yes - as normal
    • no - not at all
    • indicated - tags on nodes with tag:yes
    • unlessindicated - tags on all nodes except tag:no
  • Can not do line tags with varying length (e.g impassable cliffs)
  • (large) erosion gully, have to be made as an area (can not do pointed ends, neither varying line width)
  • Path junctions (visible/indistinct)
  • Path crossing with streams, bridge or not.
  • Crossing points (on fences etc.) have to be done as a line now, want fixed-size crossing point (as node)?
  • Firing range: Small rendering error (line behind arrow)

Color profiles

Being able to change colours for different printers or screens. Solution: Make a simple search and replace script.

Bézier curves

 Bézier curves would be very good. Follow  discussions at OSM.

Current possibility:  http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Osmarender/BezierCurves

Mapnik

Mapnik miss the following features needed to render a proper ISOM map:

  • rotating nodes and area patterns
  • perpendicular markers on lines (compare Osmarender wayMarkers)
  • Other mentioned in rendering problems