[mkgmap-dev] generating custom maps (stylesheet or typ files)

Thu May 28 21:50:34 BST 2009

Hi Clinton, hi ComputerTeddy,

On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 04:47:55PM +0200, Clinton Gladstone wrote:
> You will note that the online TYP editor I mentioned above has Perl
> source code available with a BSD license:
> 
> http://ati.land.cz/gps/typdecomp/

Perl is my favourite non-native computer language, but I don't get to use
it often.  Some people say that Perl is a write-only language, though. :-)

If the TYP format is as simple as it seems, it might be worthwhile to
generate the TYP file with a simple self-contained and self-documenting
Perl script.  The source would be text, and comments could be embedded.
Perl is reasonably cross-platform.  Admittedly, it could be better to
stick to Java in the mkgmap context.

I didn't take a look at the editor source code yet.

> I started experimenting with the TYP file created by Carsten Schwede:
> it it quite comprehensive. I then created a more minimal file from
> scratch, with the intention of getting a map that displays quickly and
> can be reasonably used both for motorized and non-motorized transport.

I agree, I took a look at the teddy.typ via the above editor, and it
looks comprehensive.

The only thing I find lacking is translations: teddy.typ only contains
English and German.  I could do Finnish and Swedish, and possibly some
other languages with the help of online dictionaries and wikis.  Does
anyone know if the code page selection really is a per-file thing, or
if it can be done per language?  Are there any TYP files with Russian,
Bulgarian or Greek labels, for example?

> If you are interested, I could send you my TYP file and my style files
> directly by e-mail. (I do not have a Web presence where I could
> otherwise post these items.)

Yes, I am interested.  I would like to define a few POI icons (such
as bike shops, bike parking and recycling bins) and possibly more
colourful line types to distinguish cycleways from footways and to
visualize pavedness.  For everything else, I've been so far happy
with the defaults of the Edge 705.

	Marko