Wikivoyage:Dynamic maps Expedition

The Dynamic maps Expedition is a Wikivoyage Expedition to foster collaboration on dynamic maps.

The classic way of making maps on Wikivoyage was to draw them with a drawing software, and upload a static image. While this approach has its merits, a more dynamic approach can coexist.

Various tools are being written to make both map generation and map usage dynamic. The goal of this expedition is to facilitate collaboration around these tools.

How to help

 * The easiest way to help is to add geographical coordinates to listings, see below. Or if you want to add maps to an article, see How to use dynamic maps.


 * Help test PoiMap2: does your browser support it? Design suggestions and technical help are also welcome.


 * Dynamic maps are only as good as their base map data, so collaboration with OpenStreetMap is highly recommended, especially in areas where transport and building information is missing. Adding roads and points of interest (POIs) is as simple as using an in-browser editor like Potlatch or the new iD editor.


 * Or take a look at Types of maps and their desirable features for other map development ideas, as well as other current projects.

Utilities
Various useful tools and utilities for finding co-ordinates and generating GPX traces:

Points of interest:
 * Right-clicking on any blank area on a dynamic map in Wikivoyage will display (lat, long) co-ordinates
 * OpenStreetMap may already have POIs which overlap our project scope (hotels, eateries, landmarks and attractions); these will have at least a name and co-ordinates but typically carry less information than a complete Wikivoyage listing.

GPX:
 * http://gpxcreator.com is a free, open-source Java desktop app which displays an OpenStreetMap and allows a user to trace a path, generating a GPX file.
 * OpenStreetMap provides JOSM as a utility to generate GPX traces, see http://josm.openstreetmap.de/download/josm.jnlp

GeoJSON: Multiple utilities provide GPX &rarr; GeoJSON conversion, as required to use the data with mw:extension:Kartographer.

See How to use dynamic maps and Geocoding.

Types of maps
Various types of maps can be thought of:

Desirable features
Here are a few features that might (or might not) be desirable, depending on the type of map:
 * Zoomable, scrollable
 * Embedded in article
 * Rendered as a static image in the print version of the article
 * Link to fullscreen for mobile readers
 * Link to GPS navigation software for mobile readers
 * Integration of a Wikivoyage article's listings that have latitude and longitude
 * Integration of a Wikivoyage article's Template:Geo (for center coordinates and zoom level in lowest-level destination article map)
 * Integration of OpenStreetMap data
 * Integration of usable satellite images
 * Clickable POIs (point of interest)
 * Clickable destinations
 * Clickable regions
 * In case of an itinerary map, show track
 * Boundary definitions
 * Simplified map style to emphasise relevant details (e.g. CloudMade or Mapbox or set "transport" layer as default)
 * Non-overlapping POIs. When 2 POIs are very near or at the same coordinates, space them a little bit so that the number can be read
 * Scale, orientation, title, legend
 * Borders of the article, for instance greying out the area that is outside the scope of the article
 * Navigation to other articles
 * POI addition directly from the map

Current stage: PoiMap2 broader deployment
Dynamic maps have now been deemed ready for broader manual deployment (although not an automated large-scale deployment):


 * Manually add maps to articles where an editor feels that a dynamic map would be beneficial and would not be adversely affected by known issues using mapframe. Guidelines for adding a dynamic map:
 * Only add dynamic maps to articles at the lowest levels of the article hierarchy: cities, districts, and regions that are not further divided into additional regions.
 * Dynamic maps should usually be added to the top of the "Get around" section, or the "Cities" section for a region article. If a map is added to a different location be sure to explain the reasoning in an edit comment or on the article's talk page.
 * Do not add a dynamic map when a Wikivoyage-style static map is already present.
 * Use the default map size (width/height) unless there is a specific reason for using a different size, in which case the reasoning should be explained in an edit comment or on the article's talk page. Zoom should be modified as appropriate.
 * Update listing tags with appropriate lat/long coordinates as outlined in Dynamic maps Expedition.

To do

 * Printing of external links - fix by totally removing all links? does Mediawiki:Print.css do anything? -- done, pdf version still wonky
 * Include same CSS code in Mediawiki:Mobile.css -- done
 * Guide on Geocoding, GPX tracks and template usage -- done
 * Open source code, code review - accessing a page may mean the page is effectively called twice, once for text and second time for parsing listings to map? Recommended practice? -- done
 * Refine icons on map server - reduce overall size, possible redesign
 * Allow the user to filter by type of POIs, for instance only "See", only "Eat", etc.
 * Show same icons on wiki, not just coloured squares?
 * When clicking on a POI number in a listing, move to embedded map instead of opening full-screen map
 * Is it really a good UI? What would be the best here?
 * Fine as is, maybe open second floating iframe instead? -- torty3 (talk) 07:48, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Continuous auto-numbering, non-continuous has problems matching up -- done, now continuous
 * Better title and legend
 * Change listing to match listing/sandbox. Mapframe and PoiMap2 to be marked non-experimental.
 * Multilingual maps, street names are localised and not always in English - wait for Wikimedia tile servers
 * Internationalisation - only en, de, fr, ru and uk working for now, other WVs have their own listing templates
 * Image tool to copy static maps from dynamic maps - possibly ShareMap or other SVG tools
 * When POIs overlap, show the "See" POIs on top, as they are the most useful. Generally, the nearer to the top of the article the more important. Currently overlapping works the opposite, with hotels overlapping everything else.
 * Non-overlapping POIs. When 2 POIs are very near or at the same coordinates, space them a little bit so that the number can be read

Works on IE8 and above, Firefox 22. Mapframe may have compatibility issues with non-HTML5 compliant browsers.

Sub-expedition: Fill all the latitudes!
Goal: Every listing should have a latitude and longitude. Personal geodata and OpenStreetMap coordinates are preferred over other derivative sources. See also Geocoding.

Method 1: GPS
Go to the place with a GPS or smartphone, and add the listing in this format: lat=12.3456 | long=45.6789

Method 2: GeoMap
Open GeoMap. Select template "Lat/Long". Fill in a address eg. 33, Long Row, Nottingham or Wall Street Bar, Roppongi. The search is multilingual, but is limited to OSM recognized terms. Click on the red marker. Then transfer the values ​​displayed with copy & paste to the article.

GeoMap always returns coordinates with five decimal places. Thus, the markers in the dynamic map can be set precisely. Overlapping with other markers and existing map content will be effectively prevented.

Method 3: Geobatcher
Use Geobatcher to find and map up to 100 coordinates at a time.


 * 1) Enter the city and/or country in the first field.
 * 2) Choose to search by either Name or Address. Searching by name matches OpenStreetMap's Points of Interest database, while searching by address relies on block addresses which may have gaps (eg cannot find 20 Main St between 1 Main St and 50 Main St).
 * 3) From the Wikivoyage article's Edit tab, copy-paste the listings into the large text field.
 * 4) Press the Find coords button. 1 listing generally takes 1 second to find.
 * 5) Listings whose coordinates have been found are mapped, and those without coordinates are marked with a question mark on the map.
 * 6) Drag and drop the markers to adjust the coordinates. If you don't know where the other listings are, press the Remove ?s button.
 * 7) lat/long attributes have been inserted in the third text field.
 * 8) Copy the listings of the third text field back to Wikivoyage.

Bonus: Search OSM using the textbox above the map, and the returned coordinates are listed and mapped with the red marker.

Method 4: ShareMap
ShareMap.org - open, creative commons, social mapping tool (http://sharemap.org) can be used to generate entire list of POI's for some articles. With ShareMap user can easily use search services (Nominatim), import OSM data (wizard or XAPI queries) or even calibrate old raster maps (please be careful the create content on CC licenses)

Detailed tutorial screencast can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc5F98q87uo

Method 5: OSM
Go to this site and either use the search or zoom the map to the location of your listing. Centralize the map so the cross is exactly on top of your point of interest. Map coordinates are given under the search bar: copy/paste to Wikivoyage and you're done. Be aware that, just to annoy us, coordinates are given as long/lat instead of lat/long.

Method 6: Google Maps
Please avoid relying on this method if possible as it would introduce a lot of licensing issues when collaborating with OpenStreetMap. If this method is used, be sure to name Google Maps as the source of the co-ordinates in your edit summary, if you have not just used it or Streetview to get a preliminary idea of the co-ordinates before refining them with OSM or another open source product.

Enable Google Maps's LatLng dropper as described here. Then find the place, and right-click, drop LatLng, copy-paste, add the lat= and similar parts. This also works on Google Street View, which is very convenient to recognize places where you have been, or check the name written in front of a restaurant.

You can also right click any spot on a Google Map, select "What's here?", and the coordinates will pop up in the search field.

Similar instructions at Wikipedia


 * Category:See listing with no coordinates - currently articles
 * Category:Sleep listing with no coordinates - currently articles
 * Category:Eat listing with no coordinates - currently articles
 * Category:Drink listing with no coordinates - currently articles
 * Category:Buy listing with no coordinates - currently articles

Sub-sub expedition: Spotting mistakes
Wikivoyage has a huge quantity of POI information, and thus contains mistakes as well. There are many ways to help fix the mistakes:


 * Check each article one-by-one.
 * Fix the errors listed at http://datahub.io/dataset/fixes.
 * Downloading the spreadsheet of all POIs and doing your own sorting/filtering to try and find incorrect values.
 * Also with the spreadsheet, you could try using outlier detection to find coordinates that are probably out-of-place.

Sub-sub expedition: Geo templates

 * Every destination (cities, parks, airports and countries; regions?) should have a latitude and longitude.
 * Currently articles have associated coordinates out of  destinations.
 * Useful CatScan2 tool to check, though more robotic means should probably be used.

Sub-expedition: OpenStreetMap with style


Goal: Produce the best possible visualization layer for OpenStreetMap (OSM).

Desirable map features:
 * Appropriate for a destination article. Country/area articles would use another style, but let's first concentrate on final destination articles.
 * Generally less colorful than default, so that POIs are immediately visible.
 * Print-friendly: No large zones of deep colors.
 * Do not make highways' color more visible than other roads: the map is intended for pedestrians, not for cars crossing the country.
 * Show tourism-related details more than other details.
 * See the procedure used when creating maps manually from OSM.

Proposed designs

 * 1) http://maps.cloudmade.com/?lat=35.66262&lng=139.73060&zoom=16&styleId=92720 (Torty3)
 * 2) Choose layer WikiVoyage or layer Tourism at https://wikivoyage.toolforge.org/w/poimap2.php?lat=49.14378&lon=9.21903&zoom=16&layer=M&lang=de&name=Heilbronn (Joachim)
 * 3) (Add your design here. If possible add sources so that others can remix your work)

Expedition members

 * Peter Talk
 * JamesA  >talk
 * Nicolas1981 (talk)
 * Joachim Mey2008 (talk)
 * Torty3 (talk)
 * Bigpeteb (talk) (Don't know how much use I'll be, but I'd love to help)
 * Jonte-- (talk) (90% av my work now has to do with georef, so I thought I'd better sign up)
 * SelfieCity (talk) (I do some work adding coordinates to listings, and I'm not part of many expeditions presently, so I'm signing up)
 * SHB2000. (I work on getting geolines, coordinates and coloring mapshapes). SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 01:10, 17 September 2021 (UTC)