Level of detail at different zoom levels

readinggreenparty · 2018-05-18T11:57:01.000Z

Hello

I would like to use OpenStreetMap to print maps that can be given to people delivering information, but I need to control the level of detail at different zoom levels. Example: I have a section of map with various roads labelled on it - in order for it to cover the whole area to deliver to I need to zoom out - as I zoom out, some of the road labels disappear: is there any way to control this (so they stay on the map)?

Thank you
Jan

hadw · 2018-05-18T13:13:08.000Z

The details always remain in the map. They only change in the images displayed to the user. Those images depend on the tools used to convert the map to images and how they are configured. openstreetmap.org provides four different examples, but there are more.

Also, the openstreetmap servers are not intended for production use by end user applications. For that you should maintain an offline copy of the relevant part of the map database and use that as your source.

Both of these lead to the conclusion that you need to construct your own map tile server (I’m assuming you are using tiled slippy maps, and not applications that display directly from the vector data) and then configure it to implement the policies you have chosen for what gets displayed at what zoom level, or at all.

There are commercial operations that will provide custom slippy map tiles for you, at a price.

SomeoneElse · 2018-05-18T15:45:09.000Z

How are you creating the image to print? If you’re doing it via browser screenshot or “share .png” or existing map tiles then you’re limited to what’s on those map tiles in the first place. Different tile sources have different levels of information - you might find that one of the ones at http://bigmap.osmz.ru/ works better for your needs (presumably you want street names but almost nothing else).

Something else that might help you is https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/ - that’d allow you to annotate a map.

Beyond that you could create your own map tiles, but that’s a bit more work.

readinggreenparty · 2018-05-25T09:19:39.000Z

Thank you both.