Questions from new user of OsmAnd

[Francesco Puccettone]

Hello to all in this OsmAnd group!

I have just discovered this app, and as a longtime Google- and Here-Maps enthusiast, I am keen to learn to use OsmAnd at a more advanced level, to be able to rely on it during my hikes.

I have a bunch of questions that I was not able to clarify for myself, maybe people in here can help if they have time. Thank you! :-}

--Francesco

1. Since OsmAnd does not have a desktop version, and openstreetmap.org does not allow customising navigation routes, what is the best tool for planning hiking/cycling routes with custom waypoints, and later navigate them in OsmAnd by loading the GPX file? Google Maps is no good as it (still) doesn't know many footpaths etc.  So far I only know of Komoot, but their desktop interface is not very advanced for routing - for instance, the autocomplete search is abysmal, and as soon as you add waypoints by name, it forgets that name and renames them Waypoint 1, 2, .. .
2. For cycling directions, OsmAnd has a set of very useful "Driving style" options (e.g. to avoid main roads), but is it possible to define a similar set of preferences for computed walking routes? Preferences like trying as much as possible to avoid roads and prefer mountain paths, even if it means a detour. Without such preferences, one has to constantly define "avoid" points along the route.
3. For a given point on the map (road), how can I see its exact road category (for instance, street/footpath/rough path/cycle lane/bridleway/etc)? Referring to the MapLegend is not very convenient (too many taps away), and even then, the different categories are hard to distinguish for people who are colour-blind.
   
4. Right-clicking on the map in the desktop version of OSM (osm.org) brings up the QueryFeatures options, which is great for seeing very detailed information about surrounding POIs. How can this feature be accessed in OsmAnd to see detail like that on demand, without having to turn on every possible layer of detail to be visible at all times?
   
5. A critical navigation feature is to quickly toggle the zoom between the default (zoomed in) level, and the zoom level just "high" enough to show an overview of the entire route. In Google Maps, route-overview is achieved by tapping the bifurcation icon in the bottom bar, which then creates a Recenter button. Can such a feature somehow be achieved in OsmAnd?
   
6. During cycling navigation, with the compass set to follow the direction of movement, I noticed that, after a turn, the map sometimes only partly rotates, such that instead of the direction of movement pointing upwards on the screen, it is instead pointing at some other angle. I noticed that a tap on the screen will rotate the map as expected, however to keep doing that during cycling is unsafe and inconvenient. Is this a known bug?
   
7. Many parts of my offline maps are rendered with what appear to be artefacts (see screenshot below). Is this an issue with my phone's GFX, or just the way the OSM map tiles are normally rendered?
   
8. How can I hide overhead power lines and towers? I find those distracting when hiking (alpine running), when I need instead to quickly distinguish between useful lines (contour lines, paths etc). I saw no specific layers for power lines in the Hide/POI menus (hiding all "Overground objects" is obviously overkill).
   
9. When tapping on certain POIs, the POI type is not displayed even in the details. For instance nowhere is the word 'tree' displayed when tapping on a tree symbol on the map. Some POI icons are obviously more arbitrary and harder to guess though.
   
10. During navigation, is it possible to have two separate panels for arrival time and remaining time in the top-right corner, rather than these always sharing a single panel that has to be tapped to toggle between them?
    
11. For a given point on the map, how can I see the exact steepness (in %) at that point, without having to define a navigation route?
    
12. How can I have my Hide configuration remembered between navigation routes, e.g. next time when I define a route, to have the "hide house numbers" tickbox still checked, as I had done for the previous route?
    

[Francesco Puccettone]

I guess this thread was too big so will put the most important of these questions in separate threads that are hopefully less intimidating for people to reply to :-}

[Bart Eisenberg]

That would be useful. And as with many tech forums, a non-response may simply mean that no one has an answer.  Or at least an affirmative one. 

[Miroslav Janosik]

Hi

1) "navigate them in OsmAnd by loading the GPX file" :

https://osmand.net/features/trip-planning#Planning_trip_using_GPX_track

5) You can do that by "two fingers drag" to quickly unzoom on whole route. In the navigation you have option how fast should it re-zoom back on your location. You also have a blue circle button (bottom-right) to center on your location.

7) those shadows seems to be showing "hillshades", in my case it works fine and I did not see such artifacts until now. You can also turn off the hillshading layer.

8) I don't see such option

9) which ones exactly are hard to guess? I mean tree is quite explaining by its icon, if I click on bench I see "Bench" and for a trash-bin I see the name too.

10) I don't think it is possible.

11) I don't think it is possible, and I haven't seen that in other maps either

12) "hide house numbers" - I see that in Settings / Map settings / Hide (near bottom) / House numbers.

I'd say that you are requesting a lot of 'specialized features' from 'general navigation software'. I mean OSMAnd contains tons of features and details, right, but it can't contain all that everyone needs, that is impossible. Especially in a software that is 'freemium'.

  with regards, occassional mapper, and happy OSMAnd user Miro

Dňa streda, 10. júna 2020 15:58:55 UTC+2 Francesco Puccettone napísal(a):

[Francesco Puccettone]

Thanks Miro for these answers, on which I comment below. Just to clarify, I'm not complaining about thse features not being availabable in OsmAnd (which of course is great!) - I was here just trying to see whether it is somehow possible to achieve those features somehow.

1) My question was about desktop tools in which to build the GPX itself (see above)

5) I'm not able to reproduce a tw-ofinger drag that unzooms to the overview level, at which the entire route fits (tightly) on the screen. For me this just does a normal zoom-out, which is not the same, as I'd have to do this repeatedly in order to get it at the overview level, whereas when driving/cycling you have limited attention.

7) the screenshot shows those shades sharply following straight lines, thus they clearly do not represent the actual hillshades, but just an artefact. This only seems to exist in hillshades layers, not in other map layer/tile types

12) the question was not how to turn that feature on/off, but how to have it be rememebered between consecutive navigations

[Tom Crocker]

Hi Francesco

3+4) I'd like it if the tags of ways and areas could be shown on osmand, as they are for nodes. I expect it's about keeping the interface usable for the average user.

7) the artefacts were discussed here https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/osmand/LOCK6TGNTbM and https://github.com/osmandapp/Osmand/issues/2183

I used to notice them really badly on my old phone, but not on my new phone, don't know why that made a difference.

11) Wouldn't exact steepness at a point depend on direction? I don't know how altitude data works in osmand. Can't you just look at the contours? It would be worth knowing that "exact" steepness at a point wouldn't really be feasible because the altitude data has quite limited resolution, so it depends what you're really looking for.#

Regards

Tom

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[Bart Eisenberg]

Re #11 For me, the contour lines best fulfill the function of seeing the steepness of a path when no route is specified.  In addition, there's the new Terrain/Slope layer, though that's more an indicator of the steepness of the surrounding area. (A path at the bottom of a steep canyon, for example, may still rise only gradually.)

All that said, I really like the altitude profile you get from defining a route. It's the clearest indicator of the walk/ride ahead. 

On Friday, June 19, 2020 at 9:45:54 AM UTC-7, Tom Crocker wrote:

Hi Francesco

3+4) I'd like it if the tags of ways and areas could be shown on osmand, as they are for nodes. I expect it's about keeping the interface usable for the average user.

7) the artefacts were discussed here https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/osmand/LOCK6TGNTbM and https://github.com/osmandapp/Osmand/issues/2183

I used to notice them really badly on my old phone, but not on my new phone, don't know why that made a difference.

11) Wouldn't exact steepness at a point depend on direction? I don't know how altitude data works in osmand. Can't you just look at the contours? It would be worth knowing that "exact" steepness at a point wouldn't really be feasible because the altitude data has quite limited resolution, so it depends what you're really looking for.#

Regards

Tom

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[Xavier]

On Fri, Jun 19, 2020 at 05:44:00PM +0100, Tom Crocker wrote:
>Hi Francesco
>
>3+4) I'd like it if the tags of ways and areas could be shown on osmand, as
>they are for nodes. I expect it's about keeping the interface usable for
>the average user.

It may have more to do with keeping the size of the map files down.

OSMAnd is a navigation app, not a general OpenStreetMap data
viewing/editing app (for that, there is Vespucci, http://vespucci.io/,
which allows viewing/editing *all* of the underlying OSM data).

There is a lot of data tagged in OSM that has no impact for routing
purposes, and I suspect that tag data in OSM that is not necessary for
routing is omitted when building the OSMAnd map data files (both to
keep them smaller, and to speed up access on phones). If this is the
case, then OSMAnd will never be able to show the details that Vespucci
can, simply because it does not have all of the underlying OSM data
available.

With the above said, I can see the usefulness of being able to view
some form of "advanced details" about the various items OSMAnd's maps
do contain, if for no other reason than a quick verification of "is
some (routing relevant) data missing here...".

So if Francesco would like to float this suggestion by the OSMAnd devs,
he should register it on the OSMAnd Github tracker here:

https://github.com/osmandapp/Osmand/issues

[Francesco Puccettone]

Thank you Tom, Bart and Xavier for these answers, they really did help!

My question #11 was, I realize, silly: of course steepness depends on route, and so the existing altitude profile for a route, will be enough *slap face*!

And for #3,#4: if Vespucci exists as an app to tap into all underlying details in OSM, I wouldn't necessarily propose to burden OSMAnd with this, as I'm sure the devs have already considered it.