[Theme] Voluntary

[john_percy]

Theme last updated 22 January 2024. Download and install from https://voluntary.nichesite.org

The Voluntary themes support OAM maps and both new and old LoMaps.


The Voluntary theme is designed for clarity of display. Its colours are based on UK Ordnance Survey conventions and will be fairly familiar to British users. Even if you are not British, the colours and styles will probably work well for you. It automatically scales for devices with displays of different resolutions and symbols enlarge smoothly for higher zoom levels. The zoom levels at which various features appear has been adjusted to provide optimal information and reduce unwanted clutter.



You can choose Hiking, Cycle, City, Multi, Yellow or Transparent style when you select the Voluntary UK theme.

The styles take advantage of switchable options. Display of hiking, cycle and mountain bike routes can now be switched on or off, as can highlighting for each of them. The number of options shown is relatively limited to aid ease of use. Cycling, Hiking, City and Road styles function almost as presets with a limited range of tailored options. Within these particular styles the display is subtly tailored to its purpose: for example, Road displays junction and road numbers better; Cycling has a better display of cycle routes. Multi, Transparent and Yellow have a fuller (but manageable) range of options. Locus remembers the settings of the options for each style.

The City style is aimed at use in large cities such as London and has a less cluttered (and slightly faster) display at low zoom levels. Colours in the Yellow theme are more muted and are aimed at use with overlays.

A "Transparent" style turns off the map background and enables use of a vector map as an overlay on top of a satellite image in Locus. Similarly the "background" checkbox in the Yellow style can be used to achieve the same effect.

Generally, blue dashes are cycle ways, green dashes represent dual use both on bike and on foot (bridle paths in the UK), and brown shorter dashes use on foot only. Blue blobs are cycle routes, green blobs are hiking routes. Mountainbike trails are shown by violet blobs. Cycle routes are also indicated by blue dashes on the roads. Hiking, cycle and mountainbike routes can be emphasised by selectable overlays.

The theme is designed to work well with both LoMaps from Locus Store and maps from OpenAndroMaps. Footpaths, bridleways and cycleways are indicated on the map by dashed lines where they follow the path of a mapped track or pedestrian way if the map supports it. On maps from OpenAndroMaps, blue dashes on roads are either cycle routes or roads with cycle tracks alongside, while shorter blue dashes on roads show cycle lanes in the road.

The Locus package includes two flavours: one that works with older LoMaps (LE) and one that works with the newer LoMaps as well as Mapsforge maps, such as from OpenAndroMaps (V5 LE). The appropriate theme appears according to the map selected.



Also included is the visually-similar Velocity theme for a simpler display with much faster drawing.   

The package is also available in  versions for other apps such as Cruiser, Orux Maps, etc.

o V5 for latest versions of Cruiser, Orux etc
o V5- for apps that cannot display text on curved paths
o V4 for apps that cannot scale dotted and dashed lines.

Voluntary and Velocity themes can be downloaded and installed from https://voluntary.nichesite.org

[jusc]

looks nice, thank you for this. Just downloaded.

[john_percy]

I have updated the first post with a new version of the themes which now show hiking and cycle routes on the latest Locus maps as well as with the OpenAndroMaps.
The new Locus maps also show windmills, gates, orchards, pylons in these themes.

[Henk van der Spek]

Definitely awesome, thank you very much.

[john_percy]

Updated with more items being shown, and some speed and display enhancements.
[Edit] Re-uploaded as access=no didn't mean what I thought it did.
[Edit 2] Re-uploaded with improvements to mountain peak name and elevation positioning

[CaptKaos]

A really great theme especially the UK road colours . Thanks

[john_percy]

December 28, 2013, 12:05:17
I've reworked the theme, and uploaded Voluntary Hike UK to the first post.
It features reworked and colour-coded symbols and captions (and more of them), named bodies of water and streams, canal tunnels shown correctly, motorway junctions, and more.

edit
Added cliff and ridge/arete symbols to the maps. See first post for download.
However, do not rely on OpenMaps to avoid falling over a cliff.

[mambofive]

 
Just downloaded and installed it - nice work, thank you!

[Henk van der Spek]

The colors (grey background) look a tad lighter than the previous Voluntary_hike especially in the village. I like it very much. Thanks a lot. Please, next time add a .nomedia file to the directory's. It "hit" me again and I have a "big" media gallery now.

[john_percy]

Please, next time add a .nomedia file to the directory's.

I learn something new every day.
Now done, and ridge/arete symbol changed slightly

[Henk van der Spek]

Thanks.

[john_percy]

February 12, 2014, 22:56:00:
Updated to display "hcw network" from OpenAndromaps, that is, routes which are "designated for cycles". Straightforward cycleways are shown by blue dashes as before but what is new is showing other paths and tracks that are OK for cycles.
In general in the UK these correspond to bridle paths (open to passage on foot, horse or bicycle and with no stiles or locked gates), restricted byways (open to passage on foot, horse, non-motorised vehicle), or byways open to all traffic (in theory, but often not - either because of their condition or other legal restrictions). Unlike cycleways, you are most likely OK to walk on these paths or tracks!
Working on that basis, I indicate paths that are not cycleways but are "designated for cycles" in the same way as bridleways (green dashes) and tracks that are not cycleways but are "designated for cycles" as green-coloured tracks. Unspecified tracks are brown in colour.  The grade (surface/visibility) of the track is indicated by how far apart the dashes of the track are.
Updated file in the first post as usual.

_________
edit March 12, 2014, 10:08:10
Reworked rendering order, following Tobias (mainly)
Also:
- Show coastline and beaches above and below high tide line
- Distinguish cities, towns, villages and suburbs better and more intuitively
- Changed the representation for construction, greenfield, and quarry
- Adjusted visibility of road numbers at low zooms
- And general tidying up

Latest version in the first post of this thread.

_________
edit March 18, 2014, 09:57:38
- Further reworking of rendering order to show highway areas linked to neighbouring highways better
- Now shows runway areas and aprons correctly
- Airport names shown better
- Coastline, and distinguishes beaches above and below coastline (hightide)
- Reworked some fills to be more intuitive, such as
-- Construction shown as scattered dots on grey
-- Greenfield construction shown as scattered dots on pale green
-- Quarry shown as scattered dots on pale brown (industrial)
- Hamlet, village, town distinguished by size and weight of names
- Road numbers hidden for low zooms to avoid caption conflict
- Railways hidden for low zoom
- Railways more visible at higher zooms
- Tramways and light railways colour-coded yellow following Ordnance Survey maps
- Subways (underground railways) colour-coded red
- Weirs shown by map symbol and marking
- "Greens" coded by accessibility and detail: very pale green = grassland; pale green = grass; light green = "private" (golf, camping etc); darker green = accessible (common, village green, park, recreation ground)
- Private gardens cross-hatched
- Patterns for nature reserves and military areas reworked

All in the first post as always

_________
edit
Revised some minimum zoom levels and tidied up generally
Added surface indication to unmetalled minor roads
Added fords, toll roads (red dots overlaid, also with red border for toll motorways)

Download from the first post

[Wojtas82]

Very nice. I just tried it, using it here in Poland, cheers.

[john_percy]

Motorway junction numbers and names debugged and enhanced. Download from first post.

[john_percy]

- Debugged route captions for hiking and cycle routes
- Reduced "gridline" artefacts on various fills at zooms 13-14
- Modified caption colours slightly for better visibility
- Workaround for mapping bug that causes minor roads with cycle or hiking routes appearing at too low zooms
- Added doctor, defibrillator, ferry terminal (when available in mapping)
- Various other minor improvements

Available for download in first post