Hi Tobias & Matthias,
Some info, what OSM Buildings is capable of right now and in short term.
backend now
- data is very custom geo to pixel, pre-rendered @ some zoom, in JSON, just footprint polygons + height
- data is served by PHP out of a MySQL (or PostGIS) database containing just geo polygons + height
- served area is fully dynamic - thus heavier load
- just some data is stored, updated manually, very complicated upload
backend asap
- move pre-rendering geo to pixel onto the client, just serve geo polygons + height
- add a special db index like ‘map tiles @ zoom 14’ in order to have quick lookups → tile-like referencing
- enhance JSON format for next client’s requiremens (see below)
- if it makes any sense, create JSON data tiles (files)
- ideally: allow access to everyone who wants to embed OSM Buildings
=> as this is the key point for costs and scalability, I could imagine either to charge users
OR to let everybody cerate his own tile set for his web server
OR allow people just to clone the server
Point is: as less obstacles as possible! - updates should happen very often, coverage global (maybe Overpass fits here)
frontend now
- like it is now… doesn’t create much traffic on the data side. map tile usage is much heavier
frontend asap
- support for individual building and roof colors
- some color determination by building type (living, religious, other…)
- support for cylinders, domes, spheres, still in cell shading style
- handling buildung parts as one object (for selections)
- handling multipolygons
- maybe support for one very simple roof shape (Tobias, this is something I would need your help)
=> all these will cause more data and will make it more attractive, I hope
not required
- Cool details like terrain, trees, streets etc. are not planned to be part of the engine.
- No heavy infrastructure, unless demand exists and its paid.
- No 3d streaming needed yet, although it’s cool and maybe worth it.
- No new standard needed. It’s basically creating it’s own. Full process of estaiblishing through the community takes too long.
Polygonal building models are a bit aside. I’d like to have a simple version, but it needs lots of performance tuning.
Therefore I’d like to postpone this a bit. And Tobias, thats also a topic to discuss in detail.
State from OSM-3D is, that Dr.Zipf is too busy to handle it and Marcus Götz, who helped me a lot, left the University.
I’m now talking to an assistand who is raising security concerns and currently not responding anymore.
As Heidelberg has every infrastructure sufficient for the next steps, would be a natural fit.