Fusion Tables Alternative on OpenStreetMap.org?

_Dissenter · 2019-02-06T15:28:55.000Z

As usual, Google is discontinuing a really useful tool and is only offering users to pay for their cloud mapping service.

I’ve been using Google Fusion Tables to display our Raised Relief Map products on Google Maps . Fusion tables is really just an online data table that makes it easy to feed data into Googles Maps. In the tables is basic information about our map name, location coordinates, links to our website, descriptions… I also have a vector path that draws out the Appalachian Trail so customers can visualize if the path of it falls on our maps.

To cut to the chase, I replaced Google Fusion Tables with an Open Street Map base layer with polygons over the top. I accomplished this using QGIS, qgis2web plugin and a little bit of tweaking.

Since Open Street Maps has replaced Google Fusion tables, this link below is now done with Leaflet.
https://www.amep.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=174_34

jeremy_rutman · 2019-02-06T17:55:19.000Z

check the links out of https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/66711/this-dynamic-3d-map-uses-openstreetmap-too-what-tools-can-create-such-a-map e.g. both https://www.bergwelten.com/map/3d/t/w/22579 and https://2016-09-15-obere-firstalm.glitch.me/ might be good for you

_Dissenter · 2019-02-06T18:12:40.000Z

Thanks Jeremy. Yes, that example looks like the sort of thing I need but, perhaps, it’s a bit more…I don’t necessarily need imagery.

I’ve been looking at http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/ and it comes very close to what I want but I’m not seeing a way to enter coordinates for the each of the vector points in the polygons. I could probably hand draw all those points but there are a lot of them. Ideally, it would be database driven.

_Dissenter · 2019-02-06T18:28:45.000Z

I wonder if using QGis might be an option?

mmd · 2019-02-06T21:58:23.000Z

Check out https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/67866/google-fusion-tables-depricated-what-to-use-now

Seems to be relevant …

wambacher · 2019-02-07T08:58:44.000Z

mmd:

Check out https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/67866/google-fusion-tables-depricated-what-to-use-now

Seems to be relevant …

No, same company, similar question (https://www.amep.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=174_34)

Regards
walter

mmd · 2019-02-07T21:59:20.000Z

@Dissenter:

I’m wondering if OpenStreetMap.org would allow me to do something similar?

Short and plain answer: no. The OSM ecosystem might have something like it, but we would expect you to do a bit more upfront research and not offload all the work to this forum. This is not a Google migration help desk, after all.

People would probably be more inclined to answer here if your company would sell some OSM based maps. As it stands, your question seems pretty much off topic for this site.

_Dissenter · 2019-02-08T15:18:54.000Z

I’m not sure I understand why there are two different forums for the same osm.org. One is help.osm.org and the other is forum.osm.org. I registered with both not knowing they were related and posted accidentally to both so that’s why there are two postings.

I know my question isn’t a typical OSM question but is this not a help forum? I didn’t know I needed to qualify my use of the forum to get help. I’m a website designer/developer and when I run into technical issues, I post messages on forums asking for help; I also do a lot of searching on the web for solutions. This is pretty standard practice and people are usually willing to help.

I really do appreciate the help.

My question is related to the use of the OSM map layer but I just want to use that layer as a way of displaying where our USGS maps are located. Our use of OSM may not seem to be conventional here but it is/was on Google. Google just made it easy and now that they are discontinuing Fusion Tables and charging for their Map Cloud Service, I’m having to find alternatives. OpenStreetMap.org seems to fits that need.

Ideally, I’d use OSM in a similar fashion as Google Maps. Essentially, OSM would be the base layer with my data on top. I’m certain it can be done because I did it with Google and UMAP people are doing it. Perhaps this just needs to be something for OSM developers to build?

I think this is a hugely important direction and it’s perfect for OSM. On Google people are/were using Fusion Tables and Google Maps to build big data heat maps. They were heat-tracking disease, weather, and all kinds of other focus points that sit on top of the Google base map. I think Heat Maps is perfect for open source and though I find the ease of Google Maps enticing, the playing field tends to change based on corporate needs rather than societal needs. I’m not saying our maps are for the good of society but I think there is potential for OSM to play a bigger part? I’m just trying to find a way to utilize all the work this open source map community has done.

By the way, I cracked open QGIS (https://www.qgis.org/en/site/) and was able to get my data loaded there using a CSV coordinate data and OpenStreetMap. However, except for exporting to a PDF or image, I don’t have a way to publish to the web. Using QGIS, is a step forward but doesn’t quite do it.

Someone pointed to UMAP and that seems to be the best option so far but I didn’t see a way to upload data (csv) using their tool.

_Dissenter · 2019-02-08T15:34:06.000Z

In case someone else is following this, I found https://leafletjs.com/examples/quick-start/ to be a possible direction to go.

I’ll try to post back my progress if this works out.

_Dissenter · 2019-02-08T16:43:01.000Z

https://josm.openstreetmap.de/
Found this editor…Something to look at.

alester · 2019-02-08T17:48:49.000Z

Based on what you’ve described, this really isn’t related to OSM at all. It sounds like you’re just looking for a way to display your data, which would point toward solutions like Leaflet or OpenLayers. You can certainly use an OSM-based map rendering as the background behind your data, but you can use non-OSM-based ones too. Either way, your use of “OSM” is more incidental than anything.

It seems to be common for folks to get confused about what exactly OpenStreetMap is. OSM is really just a big database of geo-data. That’s essentially it. It isn’t like Google where there’s a company developing services for end-users. All OSM does is provide the data to whoever wants to use it. Then, third parties have built their own tools and systems to use the OSM data to perform tasks like rendering maps, geocoding, routing, and much more. It would be these third parties that would provide a replacement service for Google Maps, not OSM.org.

_Dissenter · 2019-02-08T19:03:37.000Z

While I haven’t gotten anything working yet, Leaflet & OpenLayers are the type of solutions I came here to find. So, in posting these possible options here, I’ve been helped; hence, my posting here has produced results - Thanks. It may appear to be be incidental to you and other OpenStreetMap users but starting here is a legitimate first step for me and others in the same situation.

Please consider that if I’m looking for a solution, there are bound to be other Google/Fusion Table users and still more that aren’t, that need to go through the same process. Perhaps these posts can help with that.

_Dissenter · 2019-02-20T20:50:13.000Z

Just checking back to report some progress…I was able to build a fairly quick map using QGIS and a plugin named “qgis2web.”
It basically does what I wanted to accomplish. The output map is a bit rough and needs some attention but it gets things going.

However, I found the CRS is a bit off when it gets to Hawaii. I can’t seem to apply any projection that places my polygon correctly over the Hilo and Maui Islands. Anyone know how to fix this?

When using Google Fusion Tables, it’s placed correctly over the map but when I use openstreetmap and the same polygon coordinates, it is wrong even when using the Google projection in QGIS.

https://www.amep.com/map/usgs/

_Dissenter · 2019-02-25T21:51:46.000Z

My goal was to move from using Google Fusion Tables (Google’s map-related mapping table) to using OpenStreetMap as a base layer with an independent data layer. Best of all, I’m no longer chained to Google Maps. I thought they had a really good product and people were using for good…“heatmapping”. Oh, well.

I accomplished my goal by using QGIS (Open source GIS software – currently v3.6), a QGIS plugin named “qgis2web”, Excel, and OpenStreetMap (basemap).
On my site, I use an iframe to frame the map but here’s the final map:

https://www.amep.com/map/usgs/

Example CSV: https://www.amep.com/map/usgs07.csv

Pull OpenStreetMap into QGis. This may be another plugin…
Add a “Delimited Text Layer” in QGIS
a. This is based on a CSV that contains all the Links, Image Links, Descriptions, Polygon Coordinates…When the polygon is clicked, a small window pops up with all the specific information about the map is displayed.
b. You’ll need to select the Geometric column in the CSV to pull in the Polygon maps sections
c. Here’s an example of the Polygon Column: " POLYGON ((-74 43, -72 43, -72 42, -74 42)) " – the order goes clockwise
d. Other information is also included so that one can click on the polygons and get a popup of more information: Links, Descriptions…
Once the map looks OK in QGIS, click on “WEB” ->qgis2web plugin.
a. This pulls up a new window with lots of output options…too many to explain here.
b. Tell it where you want to export. It then produces a folder full of all the assets that you will need to publish to the web…it’s pretty slick.
c. You may Export to either OpenLayers or Leaflet; I used OpenLayers.
That’s basically it. I spent a lot of time tweaking how the map layers and polygons look. You can control most things (like zoom levels and map extent) but some CSS, html, Javascript editing is needed.

MARJORY · 2019-02-28T15:44:43.000Z

YES

_Dissenter · 2019-03-04T21:44:18.000Z

I ended up using Leaflet instead of OpenLayers. Everything looked the same except Leaflet loaded a lot quicker; from what I’ve read, Leaflet has a smaller footprint.

We sell State Maps, USGS Maps, and State maps, so I ended up just putting all of them up in the same map with a key to select the set. Works really well.

_Dissenter · 2019-03-04T22:11:13.000Z

Thanks to everyone at OpenStreetMap…It just feels better knowing it’s open source. Of source it wouldn’t be anything without all the hard work done by volunteers. Thanks!