The Dream of Your Own Map

Are you addicted to or at least fascinated by maps, in print or online? I am, but for a long time I never thought it possible to create my own map. But since the dramatic growth of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project and the associated software tools, this opened up a whole world of possibilities. There is already some variety of different general and thematic maps available on the web, and some of these will be shortly introduced here. Then, several techniques, data sources and software tools useful for creation of similar maps are presented. The example of creating a printable local hiking map, and an overview of the steps necessary to get to it, provide illustrations and guide organization of the presentation.

Covered topics: existing maps from OSM data, license and advantages of free data, getting osm data, map rendering goals, contour lines and hill shading, preprocessing data, rendering techniques, fine tuning maps, creating a legend, print preparation.