Comparison of editors
From OpenStreetMap
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Contents |
JOSM
Summary
JOSM handles things very nicely but has no Landsat/Yahoo overlay by default, although this functionality is available through plugins.
It will either read in GPX tracks from your hard disk, or if you have uploaded a GPS track to OSM it can then download them from OSM. If you are working on an area which already has OSM data on it you can download the OSM data as one layer, and have your GPS tracks from your hard drive as another layer, which stops you working on exactly the same track as already exists in OSM. Once you have drawn your line segments and made ways out of them you can then upload them to OSM.
Pros
- Very fast to edit once interface is understood.
- Can work offline using downloaded data
- Has some facilities not available in Potlatch, such as undo, make nodes of a roundabout into a circle.
- The user can configure colours used in the editing window.
- Functionality can be extended through the use of plugins.
Cons
- JOSM must be downloaded before it can be used
- It requires Java 1.5 to work
- The finer points of the interface take a while to learn
Potlatch
Summary
Flash online editor.
Pros
- It's right there on the 'Edit' tab
- It allows quick easy immediate editing. Map changes are sent back to the server as you make them.
- Yahoo! Aerial Imagery - Start making maps of a place without even going there! (if there is coverage)
Cons
It's not intended for power users (who are already excellently served by JOSM) or those who want the speed of a desktop client.
- Requires flash (not a big problem for most people)
- May not support unicode tags on some Linux systems.
Merkaartor
Summary
Merkaartor is a small editor for OpenStreetMap available under the GNU General Public License and developed using the Qt toolkit.
More information, screenshots and download
Pros
- Has some unique features like anti-aliased displaying, transparent display of map features like roads and true curved roads.
- Intuitive user interface
- Binaries for Windows, Mac OS X and some Linux platforms is available. Source for the rest.
- Easy to set up satellite imagery from Yahoo or any other WMS source.
- Tag styles can be customized
Cons
- Merkaartor is under early development, which make new and exciting features available only by grabbing the source.
