Thank you to all the code contributors for your hard work. I’ve noticed that the OpenStreetMap website has been improving very quickly lately.
On this occasion, I was wondering whether we could slip in a small wishlist item.
For example, indoor maps.
Would it be possible to add an indoor map viewing feature to the OSM website?
I can imagine several possible implementations. One idea is that when the zoom level is low enough, the site could query Overpass to check whether indoor mapping data exists nearby. If it does, a small icon could appear to notify the user that an indoor map is available, inviting them to click to view it. When clicked, the map could then switch to a vector layer that properly renders the indoor map.
This could be a generic mechanism where an attribute, or combination of attributes could trigger the access to a specific alternative map. Of course, the first step would be to get this alternative map in the map lis, or an alternative map list for special detail maps. The provider of the map style should also provide the trigger query.
There are several indoor map viewer applications based on OSM data. Integrating their functionality into the main site would be nontrivial, since they require lots of custom code to run, but your idea of an unobtrusive indicator of the type of mapping in the viewport could be more feasible once we integrate Spyglass into the site.
In the meantime, for those who aren’t familiar with it, there’s a Data Layer feature, accessible from the Layers panel on the right side of the map. It’s more raw than the indoor mapping apps but gives a glimpse at all the different things we map in OSM.
Happy to discuss this further in a separate thread.
The question is always one of scope and how far the purpose of osm.org covers adding random stuff to its UI instead of concentrating on priority topics. This is why we are in a situation in which the OSMF is paying for better onboarding of newbies in a third party app, but doesn’t provide the same functionality to the overwhelming majority of new (and existing) OSM contributors on its own website.
The SC grant, but that isn’t the point or a problem (obviously the jurors thought it is well spent money): 84% of all newbies start via the website with iD (the next largest group being maps me/organic maps/comaps with 9%) the EWG should be onboarding them better.
See for example the discussions about the wiki and the forum being near undiscoverable, not to mention basic news about the project.
I believe the wiki being undiscoverable is on purpose, once it had a direct link on the map page, then it got hidden as the last entry in a “help” menu, where it remains until today, after such items as IRC, switch2osm, mailing lists and “for organizations”.
But there still is space for special interest stuff like “history”, user diaries or even GPS traces.