Nestoria Blog

For our first Nestoria interview of 2009 we’re pleased to have the chance to speak with Andy Allan, one of the creators of OpenCycleMap.org. OpenCycleMap (OCM) is a flagship example of the power of opening up access to geodata. It’s built on top of OpenStreetMap, and was recently commended by the British Cartographic Society. When not working on OCM Andy is a Tech Lead at CloudMade.

1. What’s OpenCycleMap all about and how did you get the idea for it?

OpenCycleMap is a customised online map for cyclists, based on OpenStreetMap data. It shows things that are interesting to cyclists including signed cycle routes, offroad cycle paths, bike shops and bike parking - and of course hills - whilst diminishing other things like motorways that are of little interest. I’d been mapping for OpenStreetMap for about a year when some people were discussing customised maps, and I went ahead and attempted the cycle map in July 2007, and it’s a hobby that’s snowballed since then.

2. What are some of the technical challenges of the project?

The main two technical challenges have been getting my head around how everything works - from spatial databases to geoprocessing to mapnik style rules - and dealing with a huge world-wide project. The cycle map started off UK only, but has steadily increased to cover Europe, and then the whole world. But this takes up huge amounts of disk space, especially for the height data needed for the contours and hill colouring, takes forever to rerender each week, and its popularity sucks up an increasing amount of bandwidth. And if all that weren’t bad enough, the 81,000 OSM volunteers keep on adding even more data for me to deal with!

3. What has been the response from users?

Overwhelmingly positive. It’s continually held up as an example of what’s possible when the underlying OSM geo-data is made available, but as well as being creatively different from a standard web map it’s also pretty useful in its own right as a map for cyclists. By far the best thing is the feedback from other countries, across Europe and around the world, from people who have used and enjoyed it. But the work never ends, since almost all of the praise comes along with a “it would be great if it could also…” line attached!

4. What can we expect in 2009 from OCM specifically and from works built on top of OSM generally?

My plans for OpenCycleMap are fairly straightforward - to work on improving the map rendering even further, adding more detail and brushing up the documentation to entice more people in to contributing. But I’m much more excited about the projects that are taking the maps I generate and building on them - I’ve seen some previews of a great journey planning site that’s about to be released. There’s a few side projects, including cycle-tailored maps for Garmin GPS units and walking route maps that I’m working on in the background, and hopefully everyone will get to benefit from them at some point.

As for OSM generally, I think 2009 is going to be when OSM projects really start catching everyone’s imagination. I’ve seen a growing acceptance of OSM over the last six months in the techy community, and more and more people are coming up with interesting applications, especially for mobile devices, that use OSM by default. Here at CloudMade we’re working on various APIs that’ll make it even easier to develop cool applications, and you’ll hear more about them from us as 2009 progresses.

5. There is an OSM version of Nestoria,and we’ve considered switching fully to OSM in a few well covered areas like Berlin or central London. What’s your advice?

Go for it! You wouldn’t be the first, Flickr! have done similar things for their maps where OSM is better than their other map suppliers in many places around the world, famously in Beijing but also such places as Sydney. Anyone in your position should consider what their customers are wanting from the maps on your site - if it’s just for a vague orientation then there’s not much to choose between different maps other than their cartographic style. But when I’m poking around for a new flat on Nestoria I’m much more interested in all the stuff that only OSM shows, like where the nearest pubs and supermarkets are, whether it’s near industrial areas or open spaces with plenty of paths through them, and for me whether there’s bicycle parking near the train stations!

Thanks Andy. You are absolutely right that home searchers are interested in relevant local content. We’ll keep experimenting during the course of 2009 to try to stay at the forefront of innovation in online cartography. For those interested in OCM you can follow Andy’s progress via his blog - assuming of course he’s not out pedaling.

past Nestoria interviews: Stephan Uhrenbacher, Gary Gale, and Muki Haklay.