Adding additional maps to the OSM mod

[Rob Severijns]

Currently OSM is supporting the following maps:

OSM (default), OSMFR, SURF, EWSM, EWTM, SAT, HYDDA, WIKI, MTB and TOPO.

89 people have registered as using the mod.

Looking at who's using which map I notice the following:

69 out of 89 use the OSM map, 8 use the EWSM map, 2 use the EWTM map, at least one uses OSMFR (Hi @Katryne 😁) and 16 didn't mention which map option they use.

That said the most commenly used map is OSM which has one big downside. The map shows names in the langauge of the region which makes reading them very difficult.

Since the creation (2018) of the OSM mod by the late Erik Hoppe many other OSM maps have become available.

Some of those maps can be found here: osMap - OpenStreetMap Wiki

There are ten online worldmaps available in the following languages: English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish.

That covers the majority of the languages spoken in the world.

I don't know if it much work to add those maps to the OSM mod but I'm sure it would benefit a lot of OSM users.

We could even consider dropping some of the existing map options currently in OSM but that's up for debate.

Let me know how you feel and hopefully someone is able/willing to try and update the OSM mod.

If you feel up to it or wish to participate let us know here so we can start a workgroup.

I for one am willing to participate as a tester and give input for possible options in the OSM mod.

Of course any other ideas are welcome too.

Kind regards,

Rob

[Katryne]

Hi Rob ! I tried to update the wiki about my site, but something went bad and I got a "time out" issue. Will try later. EDIT : modification registered now.
I can't commit to beta testing, I'm not reliable enough in the long term (health issue) and even less participate in coding. But I'll be following the mod's development with great interest.

I've just chosen the same map tile for my Piwigo online album. So my two sites share the same look even more. Thanks for pointing me to OSMFR.

Note that I'm supposed to be an OSM contributor, but so far I've only changed a few wrong street names and added a crossroad in my neighborhood.

 

 

[Rob Severijns]

One idea I have is changing the first option (Select your prefered Map Source) into a dropdown menu in order to make it more clear  there are other map choices available.

[Katryne]

If it is simpler, one may just add some text on the explanation panel on the left of the 1st setting. I mean just a list of the available map background. But a dropdown menu would be simpler to use if not simpler to code.

[Rob Severijns]

13 hours ago, Katryne said:

If it is simpler, one may just add some text on the explanation panel on the left of the 1st setting

That's a good option too

 

[Rob Severijns]

22 hours ago, Katryne said:

If it is simpler, one may just add some text on the explanation panel on the left of the 1st setting.

Currently working on this. Will be available soon I hope

Will post as soon as the new versions are available.

Will look like this:

[Katryne]

In fact, during all these years, I got confused between:

1/ what one puts in General Settings/map settings if one wants to use Open Street Map in TNG
2/ and what one puts in the first plugin setting: "OSM".

I was told to put OSM, so I did put OSM everywhere, without reading any further, and especially not in the wiki ... One should always read the doc, read the doc, read the doc ... It's all my fault!

[Rob Severijns]

Don't be to hard on yourself for that's totaly unnecessary.

And I don't say this just because it's you for I also had OSM but only after looking into is a bit deeper I found the other options.

[Michel KIRSCH]

On 9/29/2024 at 9:59 AM, Rob Severijns said:

89 people have registered as using the mod

...which means that around 200 users have not registered their use of the Mod on the wiki.
In 2021, there were 241 users of OpenstreetMap Mod

[Rob Severijns]

1 hour ago, Michel KIRSCH said:

...which means that around 200 users have not registered their use of the Mod on the wiki.

If this applies to many more mods it looks like only 1 out of 3-4 people are registering the use of a mod.

IMHO a lack of respect for the devlopers and supporters of the mods who spent many hours in creating, testing and maintaining the mods. 

They don't do this just for themselves but mainly for the TNG community.

So I urge the mod users to register when using a mod. 

[stores]

Rob, I personally do not think it is a lack of respect, i think it is probably more a confusion on the process of registering.

When registering, you are editing a file that can wipe out others that registered before you. I know that when i first started registering the mods i use, i would often back out and refrained from the registering process, as i was confused on the precess and did want to screw thing up. 

While i also urge the mod users to register when using a mod, i understand that's some users might not feel comfortable editing the users file.

[Katryne]

It's true that updating the wiki is for me a long and tedious work. I do not master the language, I hardly understand it, it's always a great mystery to me. I mostly work on a copy/paste basis. I have 58 mods, 54 of them fully installed, generally I check if they are up  to date when receiving these mails that keep you informed, and then, I modify the wiki accordingly, for the small line about my site.

Following this message, yesterday, I started to visit the wiki for every one of my installed mods. It took me one hour for half of them. Will continue this morning. I feel it's my duty to thank and respect these generous and valiant coders. But for me, the process is a real punishment, the kind of penance you always put off until later.

[Rob Severijns]

@Katryne Thank you for updating the wiki.

Like you I to use a lot of mods (86) and indeed it can be a lot of work to keep the wiki up to date.

So as of this week  I've gone forward in a diferent way.

I created an overview of all the mods I use. Follow this link to see what it looks like. User: Severijns

It takes some time to get all of the data in but once it's done the maintainence is a lot easier for you only need to change one page.

I will attach the code so if anyone likes to use it it's fine. It will save you a lot of work. All you need to do is edit, add or remove some lines.

You can use notepad++ for that. Once done you can copy/paste it to your own Userpage.

I already did most of the work so changing the userpage should be "easy".

Just let me know.

By the way, @Brett gave me an excellent tip on how to find all the wikipages you registered on. Even the pages of mods you used in the past and have forgotten to remove  your name from.

In the searchbox (top-right) type [[User:Katryne|Katryne]] and search.

It will show you all the wiki page containing your name. Run through the list to see which mods you use and don't use anymore.

Also compare it with the modmanager list and that's it.

Took me little more than a day to get it all done but keep in mind that even Rome wasn't build in one day. So it doesn't have to be done tomorrow.

Hope this helps

 

Userpage.txt

[Rob Severijns]

@stores

I think you're right.

At least to some extent.

Registering on the wiki can be tricky if one has never done it but there is a preview button one can use to see the effect of the changes one's about to make.

So as long as you don't do anything "stupid" things can hardly go wrong. All they have to do is:

• Login to the wiki
• go to the section "Sites using this mod"
• choose Edit source
• Make the changes
• Use the preview
• if satisfied save the changes or otherwise make more changes or press cancel.

I also think that people seek the easy way out by not registering because it might be "difficult" or don't know how to do it yet.

Ibelieve that things being "difficult" or not knowing something "yet" is not a very good reason not to do it. But that's me.

I wonder... what is one of the firts things we teach our children if they get someting?

We teach them to say "Thank you"

Registering on the wiki when using a mod that someone created is just like that. 

By registering you say "Thank you" to the devloper(s), tester(s) and supporter(s)"

This is normal in real life situations so why should it be any different in the online world.

But enough of me being the moralist. I just hope that my plea will encourage others to also register if they haven already done so.

I at least reached one user for now so thanks again for that @Katryne and thanks to all others who will register in the future.

Kind regards,

Rob

[Brett]

5 minutes ago, Rob Severijns said:

So as long as you don't do anything "stupid" things can hardly go wrong.

There is also a 'View History' option where the changes can be rolled back. If a Wiki user needs help where they have made a mistake or need help with adding details they can PM me here  on the Forum and I can assist them.

[Rob Severijns]

15 minutes ago, Brett said:

There is also a 'View History' option where the changes can be rolled back. 

Great tip Brett 👍

[Katryne]

I just finished yesterday night updating the wiki about the mods I use. And I was very proud  for it. Well, do you think I am up to date now ? Nooooo, because this morning I decided to pass my TNG from 14.0.4 to 14.0.5. I am not sure I will start all over before a long time.

[Michel KIRSCH]

On 9/29/2024 at 9:59 AM, Rob Severijns said:

That said the most commenly used map is OSM which has one big downside. The map shows names in the langauge of the region which makes reading them very difficult.

To answer to your question, actually EN, FR and DE are available with the Mod.

OpenstreetMat Dutch tile server answer :

Door onvoorziene omstandigheden bij het bijwerken van tile.openstreetmap.nl is helaas de server op eerste kerstavond onbereikbaar geworden. We doen uiteraard een poging om de functionaliteit te herstellen, maar zeker openfietskaart en openwandelkaart.nl zullen niet goed werken totdat de server weer is hersteld.

(Due to unforeseen circumstances in updating tile.openstreetmap.nl, unfortunately the server became unreachable on Christmas Eve. We are obviously making an effort to restore functionality, but certainly openfietsmap and openwandelkaart.nl will not work properly until the server is restored. )

I've trying two other language, but it is not  possible to find tiles servers for these other languages...

Michel

[Rob Severijns]

Thx Michel,

I will check the Openstreetmap Forum and look for an naswer there.