Messages

Hi J,

Yes, I have noticed. I have added the new OS Crag tag to the new version of the theme I'm slowly working on. It's close to ready for v4/v5 maps. But the v3 of the OS Map theme is in need of major updates to support lomap maps and keep the latest look/feel in line with v4/v5 theme...

I could release just the v4/v5 map theme if people want something for Andromaps now....

I've been working on updating my OS Map theme for LoMaps having improved the OAM version, and discovered that wetland=saltmarsh is not part of the lomap tag mapping. All these areas (quite a lot around the UK coast line) end up as plain natural=wetland.

Another tag I really miss in LoMaps is tidal=yes.

Many footpaths and areas area tagged as tidal and hence only accessible at low tide.

Tidal=yes, is also useful for distinguishing between natural=wetland area that are probably tidal mud flats vs inland peat bogs.

Would it be possible to add wetland=saltmarsh to the wetland tag mapping for LoMaps? And would it also be possible to add tidal=yes

Hi Jeff,

You are correct, the European tag mapping file defines which information from OSM is in the OAM maps and at which zoom level they can first appear. Some of the tags are renamed for various reasons too.

If there are multiple points/nodes to display then they drawn based on the display and priority options, or the order they appear in the theme file. Order is quite important, and sometimes a compromise has to be made, often transparent fills are used to deal with hidden/layerred items, but this is difficult when emulating the OS map theme.

You can request additional items via the OAM forum;

https://www.openandromaps.org/en/oam-forums/forum/maps

You'll see I've requested some things, but not all requests will be accepted, especially if they do not meet the purpose of OAM maps, which is primarily for walking/cycling. Also there is a 15 tags limit per osm item (node/way/area) which if violated causes the whole tile to not be drawn.

If there are any items in the tag mapping that are not in my theme, please let me know and I'll do my best to include them in a future release.

I am planning to rework the summits in a similar fashion to the OutdoorV5 theme which makes summits visible based on their prominence and zoom level. But first I have to formalise all the v5 and tidal features improvements I have prototyped...

Note, some background info: I have two master theme files, one for locusmap/v3 maps and one for OAM v4/5 maps. Each defines both the night and day themes, to make it easier to work on both at the same.e time, but are very large and hence slow to use. So when I release a theme I have a script that splits the day and night parts into separate theme files. Resulting in the four theme files you are looking at.

Generally I am trying to emulate the look and feel of OS maps with this theme. It will be impossible to exactly match OS maps, since not all features of OS maps are supported by either the source data (OpenStreetMap) or the map creators (e.g. LoMap and OpenAndroMaps).

There is also a difference in how map features are used by the map creators, this is defined by a tag-mapping file. Only the tags in the tag-mapping files can be drawn...

OSM maps include a lot more content than OS maps, and I have added options in the theme to allow displaying addition non-OS content, e.g. Post boxes, hedges etc.

In general I have tried to create similar icons and symbology for non-OS content that are hopefully in keeping with the style of the original OS maps.

I'll take a look at Saddles too. Thanks for the feedback, it is always appreciated. I am working on a massive improvement to the rendering, starting with the v4 theme that mainly supports OAM maps, including v5 maps now.  I'll then be looking to update the LM/v3 map theme...

Thanks Jeff, you are correct and mineshaft is missing from the theme. I guess you using a lomap map as oam do not currently support mineshaft tags, only adits.

I suspect this is why it is missing, I added adits for oam (v4/v5) maps first and then updated the v3 map theme.

I'll include mineshafts in the next release. I might also request adding mineshaft to OAM maps too, there are over 10,000 tagged worldwide.

I'm still working on the update for v4/v5 map theme and will also roll back the improvements made to the v3 map theme. Once the v4 updated theme is ready/available, you might want to consider switching to using OAM maps as they have a lot more information in them and are getting rendered closer to OS maps now than lomaps... except for mineshafts, of course.

The theme works fine with all versions of LM. You have to "install" manually, as per instructions in the forum/help.

The current public releases of OS Map theme work with lomaps and openandromaps versions v3 (discontinued) and v4. They will also largely work with v5 OAM, mainly the hike/bike routes names are affected.

I will be releasing an update to fix these issues and add some additional improvements, but not ready for public release yet.

If I use the dynamic setting the beer glass symbol displays as I wanted but when zooming ok the map doesn't display the "PH" abbreviation. If I set the map to just 1:50k the PH displays when zoomed in but again, not, when zoomed out to1:50k.

Yes, this is because all elements in the map only appear at a predefined zoom level and not before. This will depend on the map creator and the settings they used. For example with the latest OAM v5 maps bars and pubs appear at zoom level 17. They will disappear at zoom level 16 and lower, regardless of what the theme is defined to do.

You can usually find a file called tagmapping.xml where you download your maps from and this defines the "rules" for when certain items will be visible. The theme can also restrict when they appear too. Here is the entries for OAM v5 tagmapping.xml that affect the pub symbols in OS map theme:
   <osm-tag key='amenity' value='pub' zoom-appear='17' />
   <osm-tag key='amenity' value='bar' zoom-appear='17' />

For OS-Dynamic, the map theme uses the following zoom levels for both styles:
   - OS-50k for Z15 and below
   - OS-25K for Z16 and above

So what you have observed seems correct, if a bit annoying.
Personally I would like pubs to be visible much earlier. They appear at Z16 in LoMaps...
Hope that helps.

As John kindly pointed out quicker than me, there are three overlay themes in both day and night themes, one for 25k, 50k and dynamic - which you have discovered will change automatically to 50k as you zoom out to Z15 and back to 25k as you zoom in to Z16.

I am working on an update to improve v5 OAM map support, e.g. route names need update  It is looking like I can keep v4 and v5 map theme in one file so far... also some improvements to the diamonds on walking routes to make them less intrusive and spaced more similar to OS maps.

I'm also thinking about adding all the missing non-OS amenities, e.g. shops, cafes etc as a non-OS amenities option...

I'm also getting LMP crashes sometimes when I open the themes to select a theme, maybe once in every 12 accesses...

Yes that should work, so long as they remain PNG's with masks.

I have a feeling that I could provide different directories with different dpi's for this reason... but I don't understand the manual on this:

https://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=manual:advanced:customization:icons

Guys I just remembered RouteConverter can show OSM maps and themes. I've just checked OAM v5 and Voluntary theme, it works, see lovely screenshot. Seems like a good way to test themes.

Thanks for this, I tried it and it works (no install too). Only issue is that it ignores categories and displays all overlay options in the theme - which can make for a rather cluttered display. Does anyone know if the app can apply/select overlays/categories?

I created this cursor and having been using it for many years. I thought perhaps others might like to use it, so here it is.

the symbols used are:
  - empty red circle when stationary and your position is based on network signal.
  - red circle with small inner circle when stationary and your GPS position is locked.
  - red circle with rotating arrow when you are moving.
  - red cross when you scroll away from your position.
  - simple red/white compass symbol.
  - darkened/smoked field of view overlay is used for the show view option.

See attached preview (note blue dashed outlines are not displayed, just the size/edges of the images).

Oh, I see, you mean accessing a legend in a zipped theme...

It would seem that making the path relative to the theme's xml file would make sense. Is the zipped theme unzipped in a local cache somewhere when in use?

@Menion: I saw there are relative paths in the lnk files. But pls.: what exactly does relative mean in a ZIP file that is in _themes folder of Locus base?
Thank you

My lnk files are working relative the Locus directory that contains the mapsVector directory. For my OS theme:

mapsVector/_themes/OS Map/OS Map Day Legend.pdf

Note I have the lnk files located in the same directory as the theme xml files.

Karl.

I understood from earlier posts that the access to EXT SD content is less efficient

What I do not understand is that I haven't changed anything. Locus Map was working with everything located in \ExtSD\Locus\mapsVector (maps and themes) and all that has changed is that now all those files are located in \ExtSD\Android\data\menion.android.locus\files\Locus\mapsVector.

Why should moving and using the exact same files from one location in ExtSD to another make such a difference to the performance? LM3 is still using the \ExtSD\Locus folder and performing as expected. I've seen others complain about the performed on LM3 after the relocation of files...

I guess I can't move the files back to \ExtSD\Locus since this is now marked as not allowed in the app... besides I will eventually hit a problem when I need to add new maps or uninstall/re-install the app...