Custom printed OSM maps: Public transport and beyond

Dr Bartosz Fabianowski, Dobini

Details about the talk:
OSM data is used to produce countless varieties of electronic map. Printed maps based on OSM data are far less common. An area where printed OSM maps can make a great contribution is public transport: The information available at a bus/tram/train stop is frequently limited to schedules and, sometimes, a schematic overview map of routes. We show how OSM data can be used to enrich the information presented at the stop. We generate a map of the surrounding area and an overview of the entire route to assist passenger orientation. These maps are combined with schedule and route data to produce A4 pages ready to be printed, laminated and put up at the stops, replacing the current schedules. This type of printed map differs from those often produced from OSM data: Instead of a single map that is manually tweaked for beautiful presentation, we must generate a large number of custom maps in a fully automated manner.

This talk illustrates a full toolchain, showing the steps needed to get from OSM data to stop information pages that are ready to be printed. We add scheduling information available in this case as GTFS files from the local municipality. The entire toolchain consists of Free Software only, building on Osmosis, Mapnik, Python, PostgreSQL, SQLite and Apache FOP. We discuss the pitfalls in a real world application, difficulties encountered during the development of the toolchain and their solutions. We put the focus on the steps required to generate custom maps but also on their integration with other information into a single printable document via Apache FOP.

The discussed toolchain allows stop information pages to be produced that enhance passenger orientation through the addition of OSM maps. By fully automating the generation of these stop pages, it becomes trivial to generate new pages whenever routes or schedules change, motivating public transport operators to keep the information at the stops up to date. The combination of maps and schedules demonstrates the aggregation of Open Data from various sources. Our toolchain is tested on data from Turin, Italy. It is readily applicable to any city and can easily be adapted to many other applications, providing the benefits of custom printed maps beyond the realm of public transport.

Our toolchain has been submitted to a contest on the creative use of Open Data, demonstrating the benefits of OSM in real world applications to the greater public.

Details about the speaker:
Dr Bartosz Fabianowski has been a mapper for two years. His efforts centered around Dublin, Ireland until recently and are now focused on Turin, Italy. As a computer scientist and Free Software enthusiast, he has experience with the processing of OSM data using a variety of tools and scripting languages. As an OSM evangelist, he is involved in an ongoing effort to import the official Irish language place names throughout Ireland. Together with Dermot McNally, he designed and implemented the True Offset Process for automatic correction of aerial imagery errors.

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