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03 August 2009

Cloudmade: Directions Africa Cape Town to Ethiopia

Cloudmade: Directions Africa Cape Town to Ethiopia

OpenStreetMap gets a boost with capable directions now across Africa



Africa Directions from Cape Town to Ethiopia click 'Hide' view the map route on the map.

view the url:
http://maps.cloudmade.com/?lat=-9.622414&lng=11.25&zoom=3&directions=-33.914731015167575,18.423986434936523,
3.5024553022772564,39.056396484375&travel=car&styleId=1

Other Cloudmade news
http://blog.cloudmade.com/
CloudMade partners release new mobile libraries

Raster Libraries

Vector Libraries

Nutiteq have long been a trusted CloudMade partner providing mobile libraries. They have now added CloudMade support for two leading mobile platforms - Blackberry and Android. Blackberry commands a high worldwide market share for smart phones and is the leading platform for email and enterprise. Google’s Android has set a new bar for open source mobile OSes, and we expect a number of new handsets to come to market during the remainder of this year. Both libraries give access to a full range of CloudMade services including custom image tiles, geosearch and routing.

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29 July 2009

Why is Open Street Map Brilliant?

Why is Open Street Map Brilliant?

PCPRO author Jonathan Bray explains his
comment:

"The OpenStreetmap is a venture, started in 2004 by Steve Coast, similar to Wikipedia, only with maps."

"I remember looking at it three years ago and being distinctly unimpressed at the level of detail. But, it’s improved beyond recognition, with maps of London, in particular, that are just as detailed, if not more so, than Google maps. And as time goes on, its accuracy and usefulness can only increase"
But the is more to Open Street Map than you think.

Most don't know about the other projects using Open Street Map #OSM (twitter)

So here a some that have been successful

OpenSea Project
http://www.openseamap.org/



OpenRouteService
http://www.openrouteservice.org/



http://www.opencyclemap.org/



OpenStreetMap data for Garmin GPS devices
http://www.mkgmap.org.uk/page/main



Cloudmade - Customise the map colours


map styled by tripgeo development team

OpenStreetMap Static maps (early development) - please see previous post
http://mapperz.blogspot.com/2009/07/open-street-map-static-api-development.html

For more information and details (and source:)
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/07/29/why-open-street-map-is-brilliant/

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09 June 2009

Cloudmade 'Fast Maps' with KML Overlay

Cloudmade 'Fast Maps' with KML Overlay

"Using the web maps lite API you can achieve lightening fast maps"

CloudMade's Web Maps Lite API lets you embed our maps in your website.
Using our JavaScript API you can:
  • Take advantage of the most up-to-date source of map data on the web
  • Benefit from the rich OpenStreetMap dataset, with features such as footpaths and cycle paths that are not found on other online maps
  • Be free from restrictive licensing - use our maps for routing, real time tracking and as a basemap to derive new layers.
Now you can overlay your KML on these fast maps with very little programming or issues.

CloudMade Fast Maps with KML Overlay
Fast Maps for Mobile and Web Mapping Applications - With KML Overlay
http://mapperz.googlepages.com/cloudmade_kml.html

Note: Web Maps Lite is available is now out of developer pre-Alpha

Google Maps API does not current have the superfast maps (Google Maps API v3 'in labs')
with the KML Overlay option, so this is currently Mapperz recommended route for fast mapping (with mobile applications) and overlaying your own data.


Source:
http://developers.cloudmade.com/projects/web-maps-lite/examples

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03 March 2009

CloudMade Map Editor

CloudMade Map Editor

update 05/03/2009
CloudMade feedback (see comments) looks promising. Thanks for the kind remarks, always willing to help a brilliant minded concept.

Ever wished you can create your own style of map online?
Well CloudMade Map Style Editor might be what you have been waiting for.

"Tired of the same old maps? CloudMade's Style Editor lets you create customized cartography that you can use to distinguish your applications. With the Style Editor, you can easily create a unique map style in a matter of minutes without having to install any special software or have any previous cartography experience"
source:Cloudmade

It uses data from Open Street Map, then allows a logged in user to edit the colour of Roads, Points of Interest [POI], Area features.
Cloudmade Editor School colour picker
Selecting and editing colours is made easy using this CloudMade Map Style editor.

But what happens if you want different representations of a feature at different scales?
Cloudmade Editor School colour picker - Zoom Levels
Note the zoom scales selected, at these scale you will see a strong purple representation, zoom in and it will be transformed into a more subtle colour (this is only for demonstrating this technique).

Mapperz wish list: (now this is just a very short version)
  • Edit Fonts (Annotation) but notoriously difficult to implement
  • Text Placement, Centre, North,South,East,West placement of point/symbols with text.
  • CMYK colour picker option (for printer), RGB and Hexidemical colours only useful for Screen/Web. See ColorBrewer for this type of usefulness.
  • Polygon to Point Representation [e.g.When a School is at an unsuitable scale for area representation is can be displayed by a point/symbol instead)
  • Preview/Outline Mode (with Auto Refresh) - currently the user requires to click 'refresh the map with your changes' button. Outline mode for seeing the nodes and segments. Similar function is in Adobe Illustrator.
  • Reorder Layers, ranking structure - sometimes having polygons above features can be useful, like a masking out polygon.
  • Export File like Illustrator. (maintaining styles and line widths with attributes).
  • Grid or Graticule Option.
  • Fix the Help [http://www.cloudmade.com/site/products%2Fstyle-editor%2Fhowto] The requested URL /site/products/style-editor/howto was not found on this server.
CloudMade Custom Map Directions
And finally you can already add routing/directions to you customised map, this is because the underlining data has not been changed. Only the graphical representation of the data has been customised.

This is just one of many products CloudMade is offering - here is a full list of all.
http://cloudmade.com/products


Some have already created their own map styles, this are available to view
http://cloudmade.com/products/style-editor/gallery


Below is Mapperz first attempt at showing the schools changing colours when zooming in.


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