OpenStreetMap
At higher zoomlevels . Mapnik was able to show by default the tiles only upto a certain level . Well google does it better . I wanted to add more detailed information but the current rendered tiles show very less informaation than what google does by default .
Is it due to the reason that tiles generation is a costly process and an additional zoom level adds heavy loads on servers ?
Is there a simple way to generate custom tiles with all whistles and bells for a small area say 20 square kilometers ?
Discussion
Beachd le Wynndale 2 An Cèitean 2010 aig 18:38
What are you expecting to be there that is not?
Beachd le JohnSmith 2 An Cèitean 2010 aig 19:33
Can you give examples of what google can and OSM mapnik tiles can;t?
Beachd le amm 2 An Cèitean 2010 aig 22:32
Where OpenStreetMap has the data, the OSM mapnik tiles generally show a much higher and richer level of detail than google's tiles.
As an example here are two links to well mapped areas showing the more varied nature of OSM tiles compared to google:
http://tools.geofabrik.de/mc/?mt0=mapnik&mt1=googlemap&lon=7.45475&lat=51.51973&zoom=16
http://tools.geofabrik.de/mc/?mt0=mapnik&mt1=googlemap&lon=13.3777&lat=52.51604&zoom=17
However, there are still quite a few areas in the world (including many areas in India), where OpenStreetMap doesn't yet have as detailed data. With a constantly increasing number of people contributing to the map that will hopfully change soon.
It is possible to render your own maps and custom tiles. One of the ways is described at http://weait.com/content/build-your-own-openstreetmap-server But most of the ways do unfortunately need a bit of work to set up, although not a huge amount. Kosmos ( osm.wiki/Kosmos ) might be another option.
Beachd le pavithrans 3 An Cèitean 2010 aig 06:21
@amm and Johnsmith:
Google rendering is bad accepted OSM could do it better but my point is that Zoomlevel . The maximum zoom level google gives covers small area while mapnik covers more area.
When we see small area vs large area on same screen size we could more clearly observe small area fit into large screen Hence more details .
geofabrick link didnt work for me .
I am showing a google map vs OSM for this place in my town .
Google http://bit.ly/cXpgEJ
OSM http://bit.ly/9EagkI
Start from left corner a bank called SBI or state bank of India to right corner . OSM shows area till the primary road junction while google shows very less
Beachd le pavithrans 3 An Cèitean 2010 aig 06:24
@amm and Johnsmith:
Google rendering is bad accepted OSM could do it better but my point is that Zoomlevel . The maximum zoom level google gives covers small area while mapnik covers more area.
When we see small area vs large area on same screen size we could more clearly observe small area fit into large screen Hence more details .
geofabrick link didnt work for me .
I am showing a google map vs OSM for this place in my town .
Google http://bit.ly/cXpgEJ
OSM http://bit.ly/9EagkI
Start from left corner a bank called SBI or state bank of India to right corner . OSM shows area till the primary road junction while google shows very less
Beachd le Gnonthgol 3 An Cèitean 2010 aig 08:10
Google goes to zoomlevel 19, mapnik to 18 and osmarender to 17.
This is a configuration on the server. But adding an extra zoomlevel doubles the space needed to store the tiles.
I don't know if the server got extra space, but it would be worth it. The speed of rendering is so fast today that i doubt it would be considered slow if we add another zoomlevel.
I hope that we one day could offer the most resolution of any map on the internet.
Beachd le pavithrans 3 An Cèitean 2010 aig 10:42
@Gnonthgol I now understand why osmarender shows up more cluttered when there are more details .
Is Kosmos the only alternative for deploying small set of tiles ? Added to the windows tag Kosmos generated tiles will only work on ISS :( ( that makes it more untouchable :X )
Beachd le pavithrans 3 An Cèitean 2010 aig 10:42
@Gnonthgol I now understand why osmarender shows up more cluttered when there are more details .
Is Kosmos the only alternative for deploying small set of tiles ? Added to the windows tag Kosmos generated tiles will only work on IIS :( ( that makes it more untouchable :X )
Beachd le amm 3 An Cèitean 2010 aig 12:50
Oh, google indeed has a zoom level 19. Hadn't realised that.
Shame those geofabrik links didn't work, as those show a Google Map and a OSM map next to each other to be able to compare to too nicely. Zoomed in to central Berlin, Germany and Dortmund, Germany, shows that the detail rendered at a given level is often much higher than for google. http://mapcomparator.gmapify.fr/ is another interesting site to compare google maps, yahoo maps, bing maps and OpenStreetMap and see how the cartography and richness of data between them vary quite strongly.
But yes, both of those are beside the point of zoom level 19. However there are still very few places where a zoom level 19 is really necessary, and Z18 becomes too cluttered. The resources required to provide the extra level potentially are quite substantial though. Already Z18 tiles regularly need to be deleted to not run out of disk space. But eventually there probably will be a Z19 level as more and more people start micromapping.
To render small set of own tiles, you can use osmarender too, if you adapt the style files to include higher zoom levels. Or use mapnik and for example the generate_tiles.py script.