Offline dynamic OSM map

General talk
1

Hello to everyone,
i’m new to OSM and i want to build an offline OSM web map.I want the map to be like an online google map(working with javascript events,supporting markers,polylines etc).I searched and found ‘tile rendering’ and rendering OSM xml data with Mapnik.I downloaded my data in .osm and .pbf format but i am confused what tool to use and how,to transform my data to a web application map .I read that Mapnik has some limitations.All i want is a google-like offline map than can be dynamically modified with javascript events.There are so many options and i’m kinda lost.:confused: Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you

2

Here comes a collection of hints, mostly in the OSM wiki:

see http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Switch2OSM how to build an own tile server with a database as data source

see http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Component_overview to learn how all components work together

see http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Rendering to get some software to render tiles. Next to Mapnik there are also Tilemill ans Maperitive that are recommendet often.

search the wiki for openlayers, leaflet and khtml to learn frameworks to display tiles in a browser

see http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Frameworks for additional tools

and do a search for “offline” at http://help.openstreetmap.org to get some hints aboit offline rendering and tile storing.

Tell us in detail where you get stuck.

3

Hello,
I read the links you posted and i have some theoretical questions in order to understand how the things work.

An offline map can only be rendered through tiles or is there a different way?
Can i search for a specific geolocation point(long,lat)in a tile-rendered map or it uses only screen coordinations since tiles are images.
Can an offline map be a slippy map?Is that convenient in order to support markers,vector layers etc?
Can i render a map with my data using only local files(for example reading data from a txt file and osm xml files) or i must create my own database and deploy a local server to send the data to my web application?

Thank you:)

4

Pure vector rendering is a possible alternative and is used in some (offline) phone apps. I do not think that there is a ready-to-use vector rendering solution for the desktop, though.

If you use one of the javascript libraries like openlayers or leaflet, you should be able to move the map to a particular long+lat coordinate pair easily. Searching for names and addresses would be more challenging, though.

Yes, an offline map can be a slippy map, and has the advantage to work with the javascript libraries I mentioned before. These do support the features you asked for.

Various rendering software is available; some programs are using a database, while others do not. However, if you want to render tiles for a large area at interactive speeds, you will likely need something “big” like Mapnik with an appropriate database backend. So it depends on the aims of your project.