[Maposmatic-dev] Re: [bug #28636] Allow creation of maps that include a route

[Jeroen van Rijn]

On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 00:43, David MENTRE <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hello Jeroen,

Hi David,

> Two points:
>  * I don't really understand your description. What is the difference
>    with current routing software?

The difference between current routing software and this is that
MapOSMatic is in the business of making nice looking maps of cities,
and routing software are mainly utilitarian, trying to get a certain
route across.

There is a use case where they overlap, namely showing a route within
a city, or part of a route from the edge of the city (or a mass
transit stop) to a destination within the city.

Say for example you're hosting a party and you want to send out an
email with directions. You could say 'take the I5 to <my town>, then
follow the directions on the included map'. It could be a blow up of a
portion of the city of actual interest.

When someone gives you directions, it's almost always the bit from
entering the city to the final destination that's 'hard to find'.
Making your way across the highway or from one station to another, not
so much.

So use case: On the maposmatic map creation zoom in on a part of your
city that shows an incoming highway and/or train station, and or bus
stop. Select them via a pushpin (or dropdown box, since they'll be
tagged in the OSM data), select the destination address, and overlay a
nice looking route at a decent zoom level.

Additionally: While it's easy to give someone a link to google maps
with the route included, that doesn't transfer to a printed brochure
or catalog which has a map insert showing the way to your office. OSM
maps are reusable, Google's aren't.

>  * For such features, I'd rather create a task rather than a bug. I
>    tend to keep "bugs" for real bugs and "tasks" for features requests.

Noted. I filed it under bug with severity Wish precisely because it's
an enhancement to think about. I thought I'd collect some feedback on
it first before starting an actual task on it, because that to me
implies it's something that is actually in the pipeline. :)

-- 
"That's like saying that a squirrel is 48% juicier than an orange -
maybe it's true, but anybody who puts the two in a blender to compare
them is kind of sick." -- Linus Torvalds