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Hi Everyone,

Finally the wait is over. After 2.75 years of tweaking in my spare time, I have finally completed the update to the OS Map theme.

The links to the theme are in the first post, which has also been updated with the latest release notes, comparison screenshots and links to the latest PDF legends (also bundled in the theme itself).

The theme now works as a ZIP theme, so no need to unzip anymore.

I am a little worried about the size of the theme files now, they have doubled in size... so please let me know if this causes performance issues... I am considering splitting the theme into 6 separate files: 1:25k, 1:50, Dynamic and again for night theme... but would prefer not to...

If you are wondering why the release date on the ZIP is 20231013, this was the original planned release date and I was about to upload when LocusMap switched from v3 to v4 LoMaps and I realised I needed to update the theme to cope with the new map and its tags etc...

The theme has a lot of improvements regarding footpaths, including with the change to v4 LoMap maps a massive improvement, especially if you are a fan of the original Ordnance Survey Maps, as LoMaps now support tags to distinguish between the different types of public rights of way, which in the UK, are not always as simple as access yes|no:



Some of the map features can be disabled using the options for non-OS content or accessible/designated paths, as they are not in the original Ordnance Survey maps, but are (I think) very useful additions that enhance the maps.

In the UK these different types of public rights of way (PROW) which define restrictions on who/what can use them:



There is a new option in the theme to highlight PROW and this uses the same colour scheme as the UK waymakers shown above.

I realise that in other countries you do not have the same waymarkers, restrictions or even possible tagging yet in your country's OSM data. But please remember that this theme is aimed as emulating the Ordnance Survey maps and so is largely aimed at users of the OS maps, which obviously will be located in the UK.

I am planning to upload the OS map theme into the LocusMap store, but I would like to identify any teething issues first as I have made a massive number of changes/improvements. So please provide feedback if you find anything wrong. Thanks in advance, Karl.

Hi Everyone,

Finally the wait is over. After 2.75 years to I have finally completed the update to the OS Map theme.

Please check the main OS Map theme sticky post for more details.

[When a way has a layer tag applied, the way is drawn under or above other ways (by the mapsforge rendering engine?) with no possibility for the theme to alter this.]

I don't think I made my point clear enough.

I'm not suggesting removal of the layer tag for ways that are supposed to use it,  eg Bridges. Only for ways that are not supposed to use it... like cycleways for instance. This is defined is the osm guidelines and also copied out in post #1.

When a way has a layer tag applied, the way is drawn under or above other ways (by the mapsforge rendering engine?) with no possibility for the theme to alter this.

In my example I was using routes with cycleway but this is not relevant to the layer tag here... further along the same cycleway is another embankment on the cycleway for which it has no layer tag,  this is drawn as expected,  see attached.

Hence my suggestion layer tag is filtered out for ways that should not use it, as per osm guidelines in first post.

Hmm, I may look at the correct path later. Anyway I'm glad it works for you now

I think the behaviour is correct. I have now set up the lnk files to have no path just "legend.pdf" and make sure I zip up the theme without a sub-directory. This then works for both zipped and unzipped usages of the theme.

There are quite a lot of possibilities regards how the link to a map legend may be defined.

Could you please share with me a theme with PDF legends that does not work for you as expected? Thanks!

Thanks Memion, I've uploaded a draft of the latest v4 OS Map theme to here:

OS Map v4 draft.zip

There are 4 theme files, day/night themes for v3/v4 maps. There are lnk files for these that point to common/shared day/night legend pdf files.

I've got the maps and themes located on external sd card: /storage/6366-3530/Android/media/menion.android.locus/mapsVector

Which seems to work smoothly for me... except loading the legend gives the attached error. This used to work when I last checked (probably last year). Error is occurring in both LM4 and Classic versions.

Thanks for helping.

Note:This isn't the final release of the theme (still working on the legend files).

My OS Map theme is close to release, just got to complete the legend files.

I found an issue with using .lnk files, it won't load .pdf files unless they have the same name as the theme.xml, I get a toaster message "Invalid value: <content of .lnk file>".

Any ideas? I'm using the .lnk file to point each theme to the common pdf legend.

@voldapet, I'm happy for the theme to be loaded up to the Locus store (when ready)... is there anything special I should worry about in the theme/zip to enable this?

Hi luxacalor,

I guess you mean the the screenshots of my latest draft of the lomap/oam v4 map theme.

It is pretty close to release now, just working on the pdf legends and final few fixes to the theme.

I was going to update the v3 theme to match, but with the v4 lomaps out now and the difficulty of doing this with less tags available and lack of time on my part, I think I'll leave the v3 map theme stay unchanged.

There is one thing I can't get to work on my phone, using zipped themes. Should work as I have latest Locusmap and android 11...

Watch this space for the new release.

You can see some of examples of latest theme

yes I have been following that thread - excellent work; but just to confirm, my 2021-02-16 OS Map theme is currently the latest right?

Yes that was the latest version I published, wow over two years ago... been busy with family and work so not had much time spare.  But I have recently been improving the OS theme especially with some of the OAM map requests Christian implemented for me, and then along comes v4 LoMap maps, so exciting!

Karl - what is the latest version of your wonderful theme & where can I download it? Page #1 still has 25/2/2021.

Hi Andrew, I finished the v4 OS Map theme back in Feb, and was going to release it with the old v3 theme not updated... but then along came v4 LoMap maps...

I've been working to making the v4 theme work for all v4/v5 OAM maps and the v4 LoMap maps, getting close now, just waiting for the latest LoMap beta maps with designation tags included so we can finally show UK public rights of ways just like OS maps do...

Given that v3 maps are being consigned to history, I'm thinking of not trying to update the v3 theme anymore - the v3 maps are missing tags that have been added to v4/v5 maps.

You can see some of examples of latest theme in the thread about the v4 LoMap maps:
https://forum.locusmap.eu/index.php?topic=8309.new#new

Hmm.. I think the LoMap approach to cycle/mtb routes is very different compared to OAM.

OAM seems to remap the cycle/mtb/hiking network values through to the highways they are related and uses separated tags for each type of route (network=cycle, mtnetwork=mtb and hknetwork=hiking).

OAM additionally resolves issues like route=mtb and network=ncn, by remapping these through to mtbnetwork=nmn. An example of this can be seen in the attached first pair of images showing LoMap/OAM with the latest v5 Voluntary theme, see how the mtb route is displayed in LoMap with blue/purple blobs but in OAM is only purple blobs.

I resolved this for now in LoMap maps by ignoring the network tag and using just the route=mtb/bicycle values to differentiate them. Separate rules are used for OAM and ignored by LoMap by checking for route="~", since OAM doesn't used route tags for network routes. See second pair of images comparing LoMap/OAM with my latest OS prototype theme.

LoMap having separated routes results in multiple renders for each route, advantage is ref labels for both routes, disadvantage is multiple highlight/emphasis drawn.
 
Another feature/issue... since LoMap is using separated route ways from the highways, I can't determine if a route is off-road. With OAM I am introducing hollow blobs when a route is off-road, see attached third pair of images.

Finally, I am missing OAM's feature to autogenerate route refs when a route has no ref tag, it does this by raking the first letter if each word in the routes name and any numbers, see examples attached and how OAM names the mtb route PWCR.

2. What advantages will these latest maps have over OAM ones, particularly if you collaborate in unifying tag mapping etc.?

For me, I see the advantage that LoMap will have over OAM is they will include different tags, e.g. designation (PROW at last!), building=cathedral, horse, and (to be checked, but hopefully) a carry over of the combined network names when they follow the same sections of ways.

Point 13
I have also noticed that LoMaps draws the coastline differently, sometimes pruning parts of the land off. Perhaps LoMap coastline is using some method similar to residential landuse?

The result seems less accurate.

See attached example, bottom is OSM, left is OAM, right is LoMap.

Point 12
Since my theme for v4 is currently targeting OAM I am naturally comparing how OAM abd LoMap v4 maps differ.

I've just remembered that landuse for residential areas is very different in Lomaps, which provides "lm_landuse". This tag uses its own method to establish residential areas, but this results in rather approximate areas, see attached which compares building up residential area using various landuse values (RED) in OAM vs using lm_landuse in LoMap (BLUE).

Can we have the missing landuse=residential tag value?

Point 11
I'm missing a lot of tidal mud areas around some of the British coastline, see attached comparison of OAM vs LoMap v4.

OAM have mapped natural=mud + tidal=yes to be treated the same as wetland=tidalflat.

Can something be done to include mud+tidal in LoMap v4 maps? E.g. treat as wetland=tidalflat, or include natural=mud + tidal=yes...

@karlchick
Point 4
- the LoMaps V3 was generated as 512x512 tiles and zoom or area is really "shifted" in comparison of 256x256 V4 tiles. There were minor changes in `zoom-appear` attribute for some elements. But it was mainly for zoom-levels 9 - 10 (I think). Do you have some specific requests to change the zoom-appear for certain elements?

Point 7, re:Point 4
In OAM most of the natural land features (that can cover large areas) appear from zoom level 12, but in LoMap v4 these are appearing at later zoom levels:

From Z13: beach, cliff, desert, fell, heath, marsh, scree, shingle, valley

From Z14: barerock, earthbank, grassland, sand, rock, wetland

Can these appear from Z12? In fact OAM has sand appear from Z10.

At the moment the map goes very bare when zooming out from Z13/Z14 compared to OAM, see attached.



...and few more requests...

Point 8
Can we include "surface" tag for "highway" and "natural" elements?
I think only tracktype is included, but often only "surface" is set in osm. Being able to differentiate sealed surfaces is very useful to many map users (e.g. using pushchairs, cycles, wheelchairs).


Point 9
Is it possible to include 10m contours? And make contours appear earlier too? E.g. major from Z9, medium from Z10,  minor from Z12.  See attached for comparison of LoMap v4 with OAM at Z12.


Point 10
Can we have "peak_dist" available, this allows the theme to bring peaks into view in sensible order and avoid cluttered view, also to have text size varying based on peaks significance, see attached example, note how LoMap v4 map has all peaks same size font. Note that peak_dist values need to override the default peak appear zoom levels to introduce peaks gradually from Z9 to Z12, see OAM tagmapping file as an example.