Reducing visual clutter on OSM maps

General talk
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Hi everyone,

I like to open a discussion about reducing visual clutter on OSM maps, especially in dense urban areas, using Singapore’s Marina Square, Raffles Place and Downtown MRT areas as examples. It is something I’m deeply concerned about as an OSM contributor.

Such areas are already extremely dense, with many buildings, shops, restaurants, and other features packed closely together in a relatively small area of space.

Especially in such areas, I think we cannot indiscriminately “dump” all types of data onto the map without careful thought. Excessive or overly granular mapping can compromise the clarity and usefulness of the resulting maps — not just for end users, but also for developers trying to work with that data effectively.

If that happens, I believe there is a collective responsibility within the OSM community to consider reasonable adjustments — not merely for aesthetic purposes, but to ensure the map remains functional and accessible.

I fully recognise that OSM’s mission is to serve as a “data bank” to capture comprehensive, accurate data. Still, usability and clarity are important for the platform to be effective. To borrow an analogy: a map is like a dining table. It is important for each contribution (dish) to have a place, but overloading the dining table (map) can cause items to overlap, obscure each other, or even fall off.

A few approaches to think about which might help balance detail with clarity:

  1. Critical vs. overmapping: Focus on mapping features critical for navigation and map developers, rather than mapping out every possible detail. (i.e. overmapping)

  2. Zoom-level differentiation: Reducing detail displayed at lower zoom levels, and reserving finer detail displayed only at closer views (i.e. higher zooms).

  3. Tagging refinements: Consider adjusting renderers to prioritise or simplify certain features, so the underlying data remains intact without overwhelming the display

The goal here isn’t to discourage mapping, but to ensure that OSM is: 1) a rich data source, and 2) a usable map for everyone. Excessive clutter can affect everyone, including mappers and developers who rely on the data. From a mapper or developer’s perspective, an overly dense and cluttered map can make it difficult to review, manage, or even notice key elements. Excessive clutter and data could also mean more challenges in managing the “extra excessive” data longer term. Thoughtful discussion about these challenges can help the community find ways to keep maps functional, accessible, and legible, without compromising the integrity of OSM’s database.

Would appreciate everyone’s consideration and thoughts on this.

Thank you!

1 Like
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Of the 3 points you list, points 2 and 3 are entirely up to map renderers and designers. As mappers we can’t control what renderers choose to display or which zoom levels they choose to display them at.

On the 1st point, in general I don’t think individual mappers should have to try to figure out what details are “too much clutter”. After all, the data may be used for general purpose maps or specialist maps, so it depends completely on the context. Can you give specific examples of details you think shouldn’t be mapped?

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I totally disagree with all the points raised.

I think there is a fundamental confusion between the OSM database and the default rendering style. The purpose of the OpenStreetMap default style is not to be a perfect map for the end consumer, but to serve as a tool for mappers themselves.

The alternative is to use one of the simple OSM-based styles offered by various companies, or simply design them yourself using vector data, A .json style is easily configurable, there you can remove, add, replace whatever you want, play with the display of data at different zoom levels, etc.

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Thanks for replying even though you completely disagree. Let’s see what the others might think.

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Hi alan_gr

Thanks for clarifying! An example of a detail I think can be omitted to remove visual clutter is a minor footpath within a mall that is a dead end and it is not critical for navigation.

In general, my main aim is urge for the community to be more mindful of preventing data overload and reducing visual clutter, and my suggestions are not necessarily exhaustive. I welcome any other inputs and ways to manage and reduce visual clutter.

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You’ll see many nice responses related to point one. So you will have to be very patient. Each OSM contributor is a universe unto themselves; each has their own interests that drew them to OSM. Some specialize in mapping nature, others in mapping buildings, others in mapping streets, others are experts in mapping businesses, shops, restaurants, and the most experienced are happy making corrections of all kinds all over the planet or designing QA tools for the rest of us, reducing OpenStreetMap to simply mapping critical features for navigation and map developers would make OpenStreetMap lose all its value and I think most contributors would walk away. There is no such thing as overmapping; on the contrary, a database is richer the more data it has, all done with the best possible quality.

Improvements in tagging have been made over more than 20 years to differentiate and standardize the data added to OSM. This tagging has been evolving wonderfully always under the consensus of the community, discussions, reasons for or against, votes… and in my opinion, all of that is fabulous. How could tagging be further refined?

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Hi afgb1977

Thanks for your inputs on this.

If I may clarify, I’m not asking to reduce mapping to only map critical features.

I’m just asking for everyone to be mindful of managing and reducing visual clutter for OSM map. Especially in dense and tightly packed urban areas. Hence the topic title too.

I hope this clarifies.

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OSM is a database. If a data consumer wants to show more items, then it may appear cluttered, but that is no reason to consider deleting or not mapping anything. If you’re concerned about clutter on a map using OSM data, speak to the data consumer and see what options they have, don’t make changes to OSM data to try and “fix” it.

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What the other replies have been trying to convey is that visual clutter is not a relevant criteria that should be taken in to account while mapping and that you are barking up the wrong tree.

You are right that it is an important criteria to consider when designing a map and there are specific cartographic challenges that using OSM data poses, but again that is not relevant for mapping itself.

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There is no way for you to know what data someone may find useful so there’s no way to know what would even count as “clutter”. Something one data consumer sees as spurious may be critical to another application.

If you personally prefer editing in a more “empty” spot, may I suggest finding places where folks have not yet applied as much effort.

Perhaps Canada has some appeal? SmallTownBot goes on holiday in Canada

Or Brazil?: UnmappedSmallTownBrazil (@SmallTownBrazil@en.osm.town) - OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

Or maybe Italy? Progetto del mese (Settembre 2025): PaesiniNonMappati

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You should have seen now: The clutter is not a mapers topic but a job fir the renderer; do you agree?

You mentioned navigation. The OSM data us used for many other things too. We sould not limit tagging in any way. Again it is the rendere ir app to offer a map style for navigation (by car, foot, boot, ..,)

The default map at osm.org is only for mappers. You should look for an App, offering what you need.

Bitmap tiles are not thathflexible to help with special needs. Look for vector tiles used.

You may find a map scheme fitting for you. Navigating should be requested often. If you hve ideas for impovements, sent them to te app maintainer.

You could even setup a scheme yourselves. We will help you.

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I see, understand, and agree with the points raised by the OP. I just want to clarify what ‘maps’ they’re referring to…

@B972025 Are you referring to the map on the main OSM website? Or other websites/apps?

If the former, this is the right place to discuss how much detail the default, example OSM map shows. Just be clear that you’re referring to this specific map, and know that we’re purely talking about what data is ‘displayed’, not what data is ‘added’ (since we want all sorts of data added, but not necessarily displayed on OSM’s default, example map). FTR, I quite like suggestion 2 where different things are displayed at different zoom levels.

If the latter, this isn’t the right place to discuss this. You should find the website/forum/repository for the map/app in question and post your suggestions there instead.

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Hello and welcome - I’d definitely start by having a look at the various map styles at osm.org itself. For example this one of Marina Square certainly isn’t too crowded - you could argue that not enough data is shown rather than too much.

That example uses OSMF’s experimental vector tiles, and uses the same base data is other maps based on OSM.

Other people can and have created map styles that show more detail than any of the maps on the osm.org site (you can see the cuisine on one of the restaurants there), yet as you zoom out only the most important data is shown where it would otherwise be crowded. That’s because the thing that shows the map to the user (MapLibre) is clever about what to show and when.

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Hi all,

Thanks for your comments and inputs.

Yes @GuardedBear, I am referring to the former, the map on the main OSM website. (https://www.openstreetmap.org). And my primary concern is the display, how the visual cluttering of the map around dense urban areas (i.e. Singapore CBDs), with many features stacked on top of each other in close proximity, can overwhelm the map and make the map look bloated. I believe that having a less bloated map which reduces visual clutter to a minimum will be a win for everyone.

I hear and appreciate perspectives on how each data contribution could be valid and beneficial for different parties, and that data shouldn’t be restricted per se. So I think the focus perhaps should be more around how we can better manage the data that is be inputted without limits, as more data might implicate more complexity in managing it.

@karlos, yes as you mentioned, the issue might be more about to the rendering rather than the data from mappers.

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So can excessive “using ChatGPT to make arguments for me”. I gave this post a :-1: because I feel you’re wasting everyone’s time in asking us to read an AI’s argument.

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We (generally) can as this is a purpose of OSM, see ATYL.

…what? Oh right ChatGPT wrote this… (I’m surprised nobody has mentioned it yet)

Every single mapper has a different view on how much detail is needed in OSM.

It’s up to the map renderers to deal with this. What you see by default on osm.org is one of the possibilities OSM offers.

That’s true but any good OSM editor has filters you can mess with to hide specific items.

tl;dr: OSM is not just “a map”, and we won’t delete objects just for the sake of making one rendered map look slightly less cluttered as someone will inevitably add detail back. And we’re not a Google-made map you might’ve heard of :eyes:.

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@SomeoneElse, hello and thank you for the welcome! Thank you for pointing out and I acknowledge that the visual clutter situation around Marina Square area has improved and there is not much clutter there. I would like to clarify that I am actually more referring to the area around Raffles Place MRT.

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Also I wrote this myself, it’s not AI generated :sob:

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Your text has multiple telltale signs of AI usage…

Em dashes all over the place, bullet lists, and those godforsaken “not just x, but y”.

Oh and unnecessary repetition.

And quotation marks on words that don’t need any.

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I’m sorry that you saw it that way :pensive_face: