OpenGeofiction
Some tips for beginning mappers
Posted by Bstn on 19 November 2016 in English. Last updated on 21 November 2016.Hello to everyone,
I’d like to share some tips for beginning mappers, as many new mappers joined OGF the last weeks and many questions came up.
- ==Use JOSM== It will be your best friend when it comes to mapping! It gives you many possibilities that you will miss with the default OSM mapping tool in the browser. You can download it here. You can find information about OGF at the User Help and Resources page.
- ==OSM is your friend==
OGF is based on OSM (=Open Street Map), a free online map, created by many participants voluntarilly. The same rules as for OSM mapping are present in OGF (in terms of tags). If you are not sure about how to create some node (e.g. a train station), google for it (“OSM trainstation”), or browse directly in the OSM wiki. For special questions, you can also ask OGF members. - ==Start simple and get into detail later on==
(Edited) First of all set up the environment. You could start with rivers, plan where your mountain ranges are located, etc. If you’re happy with your result, you can go one step further and take care of landuse. Later on you could think about the street layout, depending on your topography. - ==Take care of the streets==
Don’t create too many major roads. Always think about the cost-usage factor. Is it really necessary to connect a village with an highway? Poor countries shouldn’t even have highways. - ==Collaborate==
Take care of the other mappers in collaborative or blue countries. Don’t edit within their work without permission or a discussion. Of course you can create a new place in blue countries without asking, but for major projects (that you’re unsure of?) ask more experienced mappers to help you and discuss it. (Edited) Also try to use the comment field for your edits to show other mappers what you did. An example could be: “Added Test City Interchange @ Test City”. It can be useful to add the exact location after an @ symbol, as the edit preview boxes can stretch all over the world in some cases. - ==Adjust your edits==
Try to take care of already existing places and their layout. Of course you can add your personal style to an area, but the transition shouldn’t look to “sharp” (highways in a poor country). The OGF-wikia can give you some basic informations about a country
I hope that the tips help some mappers to get started with OGF.
Feel free to add own points that are important in your opinion.
Discussion
Comment from Yuanls on 19 November 2016 at 23:41
These are some very good points. While I’m not a new user myself, I do have some questions to ask.
Are motorways on OGF designated to some kind of fixed international standard or to each top level road classification for each country? If it is the former, I will have to make some major adjustments if the former is the case, as all of my motorways are labelled using the Glastian standard.
Would you map places as a person living in OGF would see it or as the creator and therefore mapping in an omniscient way. For example, either mapping a top secret military base down to individual buildings and landuses or just labelling the military base itself and map nothing else as if no buildings or runways existed there.
How good is JOSM over Potlatch and ID? Are there things that are impossible to do when not using JOSM? I use a combination of the ID and Potlatch, and seem to be doing perfectly well. I only use JOSM when copying and pasting.
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 20 November 2016 at 01:44
@Yuanls teach me your ways XD for Potlatch and iD that work is amazing XD
Comment from Thunderbird on 20 November 2016 at 02:13
Great points, @new mappers this is all great advice!
And @Yuanls, I didn’t know any work that detailed could be created with Potlatch. But however it was done, I still believe it could be done more quickly with JOSM.
Comment from Yuanls on 20 November 2016 at 12:41
@Ernestpcosby
Thanks! I needed was a clear plastic ruler to measure lengths and widths of similar features from OSM, and for drawing perpendicular lines. If you go and download the data for the area, you’ll see many construction lines made on Potlatch (tagged line=yes) that I use to align all my buildings parallel to roads. Otherwise, all work is done on ID on a high zoom level. I find that the function that makes the building into a square is very useful for houses and other buildings. Aside from that, I guess it’s just practice.
@Thunderbird
Myrcia’s excellent Dunwic city appears to have been made entirely from Potlatch. So I guess it’s possible, but I think it depends on the experience of the user and how he/she applies the software and their initiative, rather than the acutal quality of the software involved.
Comment from Bstn on 20 November 2016 at 13:20
The point I prefer JOSM is, that you’ve the possibility to fastly see the length of ways. Some have an eye for it, but some don’t.
Comment from PColumbus73 on 20 November 2016 at 16:33
I have a question about JOSM, is there a way to input specific dimensions when drawing a building? For instance, if I wanted to draw a building that is 40 feet x 100 feet, are there commands or settings that will allow exact dimensions?
Also, if there happens to be an Ortho mode, that would be helpful too.
This may seem like overkill to some, I work at a Civil Engineering office so I use dimensions to draw buildings and parking lots, etc. Being able to enter a specific length and being able to draw a building with more precise angles would make doing so more enjoyable.
Comment from wangi on 20 November 2016 at 16:58
Sure.
I don’t use BuildingsTools - i find angle snapping plus the path length on the status bar sufficient.
Comment from Thunderbird on 20 November 2016 at 18:59
I can say one thing for certain, I’d never be able to do some of the things I’ve done in any application other than JOSM. For example, I’ve measured each segment of highway so I could place mile markers exactly 5280.0 feet apart.
Comment from Luciano on 20 November 2016 at 22:35
In general, I think these are all great suggestions, but I’d add one caveat: I think it’s generally a common mistake for beginning mappers to think of laying out roads first, as is suggested by the phrase “First of all set up some major roads […] to get some general look of the city layout.”
Most of us here (myself included!) suffer from a kind of “infrastructure fetish.” The first step to really successful mapping, in my own opinion, is to get past that, meaning the first steps should definitely NOT be “make some roads” but instead should be “make some rivers/lakes/water features” and/or “think about topography” (up to and including work out some kind of topo map for the area you want to develop). The next step would be to think about land cover (forests, fields, farms, etc.). Only after these things should one begin to think about roads.
Comment from compdude on 21 November 2016 at 15:32
@Luciano: yes, it’s very important to map out the topography first in a city and country. I’m glad I did that first when I started my country.
Comment from Bstn on 21 November 2016 at 15:32
@Luciano Thank you for the hint. I’ll correct it in the overview! Thank you for the comments.
Comment from isleño on 21 November 2016 at 20:44
My biggest suggestion would be to think small and challenge yourself to build one city.
We have tons of people who come here, draw a highway or an airport or some random street grid in a blue country, then they claim a territory the size of Finland… and only then do they discover that they can’t build a single city.
Maybe they don’t have the patience, or maybe they just aren’t interested in cities, or who knows what… but it is a very common and unfortunate pattern. Build a city in a blue country, prove to yourself that you can actually do it, then claim a territory.
Comment from Thunderbird on 22 November 2016 at 01:45
@isleno I couldn’t have said it better myself.