AlpineQuest & OfflineMaps

Psyberia-Support wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 6:11 pm The PDOK maps are now available.

Great.
Thanks a lot!

I have some questions. I hope you find them them usefull and not too much nit-picking

• Why did you use the original Dutch names for the arial imagery and walk/biking networks, but a made-up name for "Topo Raster"? In fact, this is the default (classic) visualisation of BRT/BGT, instead of the newer visualisation that you named BRT/BGT.

• Did you use the pale colour style of the BGT on purpose for the highest zoom levels of the "Topo Raster" layer instead of de default style?

• Why did you include the "Topo Raster" layer in two resolutions (I haven't seen this for other layers in the "Community maps") that both switch to low-scale layers (e.g. top50raster instead of top25raster) way too early to my taste (and also when you compare AlpineQuest with the behaviour of other apps like "Topo GPS" and "Netherland Topo Maps")?

• Did you find the other layers I included not usefull, or just too much work to inclde them yet?

Kind regards, Jochem

Hi again, no problem for your questions
I have just made some changes based on your feedbacks, in particular I renamed the first map "Classic Raster Topo", and used one more zoom level with the 25k map.
In general, I try to use simple names for "classic topo" maps, that are talking to the most of peoples (including non Dutch users), so as soon as I see contours line I usually use the name "Topo map". Yes, I used the "pale" version for very large scales (3K) as it looks more like a cadastral map and shows more details (like building and areas outlines).
About the "HD" version, it's supposed to be used with an "HD" map setting: go in the app settings, and under "Map display resolution" select "Very high (1:1)" or something equivalent. The "HD" map will then be displayed beautifully, with similar zoom levels as the non HD map. Concerning the scales of the non-HD version, I guess they are similar to the ones of your file (I used the Amersfoort map projection which seems to be the original raster projection and seems to be displayed more nicely). You can display both version together to compare them.
And finally, I only included the main maps in order to simplify maintenance. Map providers often change map specifications, layer and style names, etc. and maps often become broken after some time (your "BRK/CBS/Admin borders" already has an obsolete style name).
I (will) invite all users who need more map data to use your own (very complete) file.

I've seen that the PDOK also provides a version of the OpenTopo map, I don't know if it will remain available next January.

Note that when I worked on this, the historical file was not found, I've just seen it's now available. It contains very nice historical maps, I'll make some of them available.

ps: nice function to get the current year!

Hallo Jochem,
Hopelijk als je deze link bekijkt:
https://www.vaarweginformatie.nl/frp/ma ... /infra_enc
kun je in weinig tijd beslissen of het wat is of de moeite niet waard.
Bij voorbaat dank,
Vriendelijke groet
Jos

suntalla wrote: ↑Thu Dec 15, 2022 11:17 am https://www.vaarweginformatie.nl/frp/ma ... /infra_enc

@suntalla, The Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) are in a very specific (old?) vector data file format (S-57) instead of a raster tile service like the maps in AlpineQuest. Some countries seem to provide a vector tile service based viewer for ENC, but the website you linked doesn't provide that. Also the Ordnance Survey GB and other National Mapping Agencies are moving towards new vector tile services. So it would be interesting if AlpineQuest would support these.

@Psyberia-Support, Will AlpineQuest support vector tile services?

Thanks for your comprehensive answers.

I renamed the first map

Classic Raster Topo (BRT) layer uses the BGT too very large scales, so the name should actually be Classic Raster Topo (BRT/BGT)?

I try to use simple names [...] including non Dutch users

I agree, but why did you keep the Dutch names for most of the other layers?

I used the the "pale" version : ? for very large scales (3K) as it looks more like a cadastral map and shows more details (like building and areas outlines).

Actually, the pale version of BGT (layer=pastelvisualisatie) contains exactly the same information as the standard version of BGT (layer=standaardvisualisatie), it only uses different colours for the outlines and areas (with an ugly texture for roads with paving stones instead of closed concrete/tarmac).

I [...] used one more zoom level with the 25k map

Thanks, that solved it for me.

About the "HD" version, it's supposed to be used with an "HD" map setting

I have been using the setting for the map display resolution often, also for non-HD maps. It is a very handy feature, thanks! What I tried to ask was: Why did you include a HD option for the Dutch Topo Map and not for any of the other maps I've seen in AlpineQuest?

I only included the main maps in order to simplify maintenance. Map providers often change map specifications, layer and style names, etc.

I agree. These changes by map providers are really annoying! PDOK does send emails to announce changes, but nevertheless I also reduced the number of layers to only what I use myself, just to keep it maintainable.

I've seen that the PDOK also provides a version of the OpenTopo map, I don't know if it will remain available next January.

Unfortunately, it won't remain available. The hosting the Open Topo map isn't the problem, it is the creator that will stop composing the Open Topo map for free.

[...] very nice historical maps, I'll make some of them available.

Great! Be aware that these do not comply with the official tiling scheme for the Dutch RD projection.

Hi again, sorry for the delay.
I've updated the classic topo map name to include "BRT/BGT"

The answer to why not much maps have an HD version is because the map servers doesn't provide one. The image tiles must have graphics and texts larger enough so that it's possible to display them 2 times smaller (ie with a pixel density twice) (on each axis), and still be possible to be correctly readable.

Concerning the regular/pale versions of the BGT, I completely agree that they are both generated from the same data, but because the regular version doesn't display all outlines, some information is not well rendered graphically, especially what's underlined in red in the first screenshot (compared to the regular version in the second screenshot): About vector maps, it's not planned for a soon future. It will mainly depend on how much data will be available as it in the future...

And I've added some historical maps, in the "Netherlands Historical Maps" group (1890, 1930, 1960, 2000 and OpenTopo 2022).

Thanks for your answers and map updates!

The tile server for the historical maps gives a response for every year, but the actual map content is updated less frequently. So it is a bit arbitrary what years to include, and if these years should be based on a regular interval, should mark important moments in the development of the landscape of the Netherlands (e.g. reclamation, urbanisation), or if the years should coincide with new map production methods (e.g. first 1:50k coverage (1850), first 1:25k coverage, first 1:25k coverage in RD projection, last manually generalised 1:50k). I think the years you chose are a reasonable compromise. Maybe you could add 1850?

I've added 1815, 1850 and 1950