Setup a Garmin mapserver and how to find OpenStreetMap Garmin maps

[Lambertus]

The following is a response I wrote to a discussion on the German mailinglist. I post it here because perhaps it’s useful to people who want to setup their own map hosting service.

@aighes

The main issue is, that many users doesn’t find our maps, because they
are “hidden”. There is only the wiki-list, but this list isn’t quite
usable to normal people. The “fear” is only a minor problem.

When I type in Google: “Free Garmin maps” I find my website listed first
and the OSM Garmin/Download wiki page listed in 4th place.

Similarly searching for “OpenStreetMap Garmin map” lists my website
first and the OSM Garmin/Download wiki page in 5th place.

Similar results are returned using Bing search.

So, I don’t really understand why people can’t find the maps.

So there were two ideas how to fix this issue.
1)
Have a prominent website (linked e.g. by openstreetmap.de), which
contains information to all available maps and guide the user to the
map, he is looking for. User could watch a screenshot an read the main
explanations to the map and then will be linked to download-website of
the map or directly to the download.

Ofcourse this is a good idea. E.g. The Dutch OSM page has such a link.

Set up a powerful renderserver, who renders several maps OnDemand
(inclusive caching of course) and deliver several mapstylings to the
user directly. This service will also be linked e.g. by openstreetmap.de.

So you are offering such a OnDemand-Service. So it would be great to
have your opinion how powerful such a server has to be and how is your
user-feedback.

The current server is a few generations old dual CPU dualcore Xeon 2.0
GHz (4 cores total), 8 GB ram, 900 GB cache and 100 Mbit internet
connection.

The server generates 3 maps simultaneously at a rate up to about 500
unique maps per 24 hours. It could be more but at this pace the cache is
usually full within 24 hours and map generation is throttled. Also the
internet connection is sometimes fully saturated which takes it’s toll
on disk performance (i.e. disk heads are moving as fast as they can
while the system is starved for data), this slows the generation of maps.

About 1500 unique users download one or more maps per day at a rate of
around 300GB per day. Caching levels are about 30% I would guess
(unfortunately I don’t have good numbers on that), it helps tremendously.

So if you plan on setting up a similar on-demand system that provides
more map types to more people then use at least:

• a modern quadcore CPU
• 2 TB fast disk cache
• Good 100 MBit internet
• 8 GB ram
• unlimited bandwidth usage

I also have experience with on-demand rendering using a renderfarm in
which case the CPU and disk cache per box is less important, but enough
ram and fast internet connection remain important. Configuring all the
details and distributing map updates is a pain in the ass though.

Ofcourse there is still room for smarter caching and reducing the
cache/CPU usage by producing maps more efficiently (i.e. less versions
of the same map), but it requires a lot of effort to improve significantly.

Regarding user feedback, I get a lot of it. Lots of thank you’s
ofcourse, but there is also a large group of internet users for which
you can’t make things simple enough and well-documented enough for them
to manage without help. Picture your typical computer-illiterate
mother-in-law who decides that she needs a free update for her satnav
using the babysitter on this side of the screen. Or freshly pensioned
guy who decides he’s going to pick up the geocaching hobby but never
used a pc before.

Those WILL contact you and expect to be helped, for free.

So, if you plan on setting up a similar system like I did: plan for a
lot of your time to perform helpdesk duties answering silly questions,
figuring out what the h*ll people are trying to tell you and find ways
around individual firewall/virusscanner/InternetExplorer problems, etc.

*PS. No personal insults intended *

[Zartbitter]

@Lambertus

When I type in Google: “Free Garmin maps” I find my website listed first
and the OSM Garmin/Download wiki page listed in 4th place.
Similarly searching for “OpenStreetMap Garmin map” lists my website
first and the OSM Garmin/Download wiki page in 5th place.

Using Google and Ixquick from Germany your website isn’t listed on the first result page. It is on the 3rd page (or later). Maybe search results are rated differently depending on the country?
I just want to say that something that looks easy to you may be difficult to another one.

[Lambertus]

@Zartbitter

@Lambertus

When I type in Google: “Free Garmin maps” I find my website listed first
and the OSM Garmin/Download wiki page listed in 4th place.
Similarly searching for “OpenStreetMap Garmin map” lists my website
first and the OSM Garmin/Download wiki page in 5th place.

Using Google and Ixquick from Germany your website isn’t listed on the first result page. It is on the 3rd page (or later). Maybe search results are rated differently depending on the country?

Ok, this is new for me.

I just want to say that something that looks easy to you may be difficult to another one.

True, and that is why I provide Garmin maps to end-users because although it is easy to produce your own map if you’re computer savvy while it is probably difficult if you’re not.

[fx99]

The Google results on searches depends strongly on the history of your
searches!
So, for all of us trying to produce the search of an OSM novice, we have to get somehow
rid of all Google traces on our computer.

[Lambertus]

Thanks for the info fx99. I noticed that ixquick gives a similar same result as Google for me.

So, are there ideas how to promote the Garmin maps even more? A single link on the German OSM portal site isn’t enough, me thinks. I know a lot of our map users are promoting/spamming the links on every available forums from geocaching forums, mobile phone forums to caravan ownerclub forums.