VeloMap.org -Roadbike - Bicycle - Maps based on Openstreetmap

9. November 2012 Map Updates – Mac OSX Maps now Worldwide too

(for german newsletter, please follow the heading and look at it online, für die deutsche Version des Newsletters, bitte die Überschrift anklicken, und auf der Website die Sprache auf Deutsch setzen)

Well three weeks passed since the last map update, and quite a few changes over the last weeks. I'm still progging on both maps for Android as well as an online map (I already rented a nice online root server with 32GB RAM and I7 for rendering the maps), but also still adding or changing stuff on the main openmtbmaps/velomaps.

However as 10 days ago I broke my ankle, and ripped out a ligament, it means progress stopped a bit. Damn stupid thing, just jumping down 1m somewhere backwards, ankle folding over and misery there, no spectacular crash or anything like my "normal" injuries... So instead of making the best of the nice autumn weather mtbiking until the snow arrives, I'm out of order concerning sports for at least another 6 weeks.

Mac OSx gmap format maps now available worldwide
But so for changes - today or tomorrow I'll move all Mac OSx downloads to their dedicated download site, this also makes it easier for support as questions regarding mac osx will be found in one place. Main reason however is - that I'm currently finishing up rendering all maps for Mac OSx too. As for the windows maps, I took splitted the contourlines into separate downloads, so for many countries or continents where the contourlines are much bigger than the actual map data, it provides faster updates (you also only need to download the contourlines once, and then update only the maps themselves). To save traffic maybe in general I will in future only update the european country maps weekly, all other maps every two or three weeks? Let's see, it depends a bit on traffic how often I will update.

Other changes

I updated the contourlines for North America too now. They are based on viewfinderpanoramas.org 3" data - which isn't as detailed in some places as the 1" SRTM1 - however in general as it is voidfilled it offers a much better general quality - and also smaller download size. Canada contourlines are now also available for full Canada - and not stopping at 60° North. So if you update the North America maps, don't forget to also download the contourlines again.

I also updated the contourlines for some European countries, but the changes are minimal...

There have been quite a few changes to mkgmap, so some multipolygon errors in comparison to Mapnik are fixed too now. I too updated a bit the address search processing for Germany and fixe some more rather common access rules tagging mistakes. On the Velomap since 2 weeks, the routing on primaries and secondaries is a little bit degraded again, but the changes are rather small.

So that's been it, happy mapping and biking to everyone, I envy you but hope to be back in the outdoors ASAP!

19. October Map Updates — all Contourlines reworked

New Reworked Contourlines

Well, actually I wanted to post this message already last week, but the updates took much longer than I first expected. So here we go:

Already last week, all European maps (except map of Europe) got new/reworked contourlines. While in the Alps, there was no change as the data stayed the same, all other European country maps, now also use data from viefinderpanoramas.org - hence artefacts and holes should be a thing of the past (note, in general the quality in Europe was already pretty high). Much much better contourlines are now in New Zealand and Australia, here the quality is about as good as in Europe now. Also the contourlines of Africa and South America and Asia are much much better now. Mountaineous regions are now more or less everywhere pretty good, some less good/clean contourlines remain in rather flat regions.

The contourlines for the full map of Europe are also updated, and now also Iceland and other "exotic" European countries are covered with contourlines. This means that if you update the map of Europe, you will also need to update the contourlines (usually updating the map data, and running the new installer is enough). Same goes for all other countries where contourlines are not included in the installer (except North America).

North America contourlines remain unchanged for now, but I'm pretty positive that within a few weeks I can also publish updates for them.

Also for all maps that come with contourlines integrated and included in the installer - I rendered the contourlines separately for the Velomaps. This means should you accidentally install Velomap and Openmtbmap of the same country both including contourlines, there is no problem (except one more map on your GPS). For all contourline maps, that are a separate download, you however still have to watch out to only send the contourlines once.

New Country Maps

Besides I added country maps for Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay in South America. All of course with contourlines integrated.

In Africa I added contourlines for Somalia, and with Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia and Nigeria new countries.

Other map improvements

Already last week, I updated the racing layout for the Velomaps a bit more, to give even better contrast.

Better naming for restaurants and include ref for emergency access points into the name.

Rework of National Parks // Nature Reserves

Improving how various towers look in the map.

So if you like my work, I'm allways happy about anyone donating and getting a membership. More than 70% of the recipients of this email, have never donated to openmtbmap/velomap. Please support my work by getting a membership - only then I can continue to improve the maps, and soon also offer maps for mobile devices.