Elevate - Openandromaps hiking, cycling, sightseeing themes

[eartrumpet]

Elevate has been updated. There was a tiny error (two spaces were missing) that let to bad rendering in just a few apps, and MTB:scale and MTB:scale:uphill are now shown on steps.

4.4.5 06/03/21
- added mtb:scale and mtb:scale:uphill to highway=steps in MTB-mapstyle
- fixed error in cliffs

[eartrumpet]

When hiking in the mountains, I keep a close look on trail difficulty, to avoid sac T5 without proper equipment for example.
In the current Elevate, the colors are confusing for me, and high-difficulty trails appear in black, and may be overlooked or confused with other marks, while they could be dangerous.

For me black is fine, as black is in our parts of the alps the color for dangerous paths (or ski pistes etc.). I use these colors as they are used on the guideposts (here's an example), so for those familiar with the eastern alps these colors are really self-evident. But when other colors work better for you, great. I just can't provide different versions for all different colors people are used to in other parts of the world.

Is there a "simple" way / software to edit the stylesheet ?

No, just a usual text editor. Look at this thread in German for hints etc.:
https://www.openandromaps.org/oam-forums/topic/grundorientierung

[eartrumpet]

With the new Elevate 4.5, there are lots of changes to the displayed POI symbols and captions. There are now more colors which depend on categories that are identical to the POI options. The categories have been resorted and all symbols have a more unified look. Also the mapstyle options now have category letters (R=Route, W=Ways, P=POIs, A=Areas). That all those changed symbols can be displayed at all I've renamed the symbol folder from ele_res to ele-res - the old one can be safely deleted.
Also lots of new POIs have been added some other changes:

4.5.0 21/04/21
- many changes in POI symbols - new colors, remodeled categories, unified symbols, reworked many symbols, category letters for mapstyle options (R=Route, W=Ways, P=POIs, A=Areas)
- restructured POI categories
- added minor contour lines in cycling for ZL13/14, some access additions, historic=stone, shop=farm, man_made=wastewater_plant, man_made=water_works, amenity=ice_cream, sport=cliff_diving, sport=free_flying, sport=climbing_adventure, sport=roller_skating, sport=skateboard, sport=miniature_golf
- changed aerial ways rendering, removed workaround for missing building tags, removed symbol for water_well/drinking (now same as drinking_water)

[eartrumpet]

Elevate has been updated with some small additions/changes.

4.5.2 14/10/21
- optimized drag_lift and chair_lift symbols, changed rendering of path/footway areas, natural=tree_row
- added rendering for closed highway=pedestrian ways, highway=construction as area, cutting=yes, hillshading (for apps that support it), waymarks: white background when background is missing

[eartrumpet]

Elevate 5.0 has been released. The main changes are there to match the new v5 generations of OpenAndroMaps, which need mapsforge maps V5 support in the apps. Therefore the 5.0 version in Elevate, too.
The new version works in most parts with the older V4 maps, but it is not recommended.

All changes:

5.0 05/12/21
- made for next OAM map generation based on mapsforge maps V5, starting December 2021
- new routes and separate route refs: hknetwork=own, network=ocn, mtbnetwork=omn, ref_hike/rec_cycle/ref_mtb
- better waymarks support: OSMC waycolors orange/brown/gray, lots of additional, new OSMC foreground/backgrounds, changed rendering of OSMC waycolors
- changed symbols fee=yes symbols for parking and toilets, removed obsolete uwn/ucn networks
- added building=greenhouse

[eartrumpet]

Elevate has been updated to 5.1 including several new map features and changes to low zoom rendering of emphasized paved cycle ways and colored waymarks routes.

5.1 07/06/22
– added: tracktype=grade1 to emphasized paved ways options, low zoom emphasized paved cycle ways rendering (cycling), man_made=breakwater, amenity=bicycle_repair_station, amenity=public_bookcase
– changed rendering of: man_made=groyne, waterway=weir, low zoom waymarks colored routes (hiking)
– removed: mtbnetwork=umn (MTB)

[eartrumpet]

There's a new Elevate version available. The biggest change is that crags from OS data are now rendered for UK maps. But other countries get several new features, too.

All changes:

5.2 06/11/22
- added crags for UK maps, smaller symbols for parking lane/street side, amenity=parking_entrance, natural=sinkhole, natural=crater for nodes, highway=busway, names for various landuses to all map styles, mtb_role=forward/backward, landuse=plant_nursery, barrier=toll_booth, railway=train_station_entrance, railway=subway_entrance
- changed areas of touristic attractions, walls, parking zoom levels, non-route refs for smaller highways

[ncohafmuta]

I've been using Elevate for a bunch of years now for hiking in Oruxmaps and I always appreciate the work that goes into this and andromaps.

Admittedly, i've been using "Elevate L" for a while simply because i can see more hiking trail names at a lower zoom level. I've just upgraded to Elevate 5, so thought I should ask if the L version is no longer maintained as I suspect? If so, is there a way I can get similar results in the standard, maintained version? I tried messing with the scaling settings of the mapsforge section of Oruxmaps, but didn't seem to have an effect on what I wanted. It's not a big deal, but would be nice to know if there's a quick fix, so I can drop the old variants.

Thanks

-Tony

[eartrumpet]

Admittedly, i've been using "Elevate L" for a while simply because i can see more hiking trail names at a lower zoom level. I've just upgraded to Elevate 5, so thought I should ask if the L version is no longer maintained as I suspect? If so, is there a way I can get similar results in the standard, maintained version? I tried messing with the scaling settings of the mapsforge section of Oruxmaps, but didn't seem to have an effect on what I wanted. It's not a big deal, but would be nice to know if there's a quick fix, so I can drop the old variants.

The size variants have been discontinued with Elevate 4 in 2016, so quite a while ago (a bit longer in Elevate 2 legacy version). They were meant for apps which didn't scale maps for high pixel density displays, but modern apps like current OruxMaps scale this automatically. So I'm not quite sure which effect you are after, as this would be a different then the intended one with Elevate L (which was just to display the map content the same on devices with ~320ppi as with ~160ppi).
You wrote "more hiking trail names at a lower zoom level" - more names usually can only displayed if they are smaller, so they don't overlap and cancel each other. So to display more names, you should use Settings > Maps > Mapsforge settings > Mapsforge text size with a factor <1. But I'm not sure that's what you intend, as in "L" the text size used to be larger and therefore lesse names that can be rendered.
If you meant to display trail names earlier/in lower zoom levels at all, you should use Elements theme (which is made for sparsely populated/mapped areas or countries).
Best regards,
Tobias

[ncohafmuta]

If you meant to display trail names earlier/in lower zoom levels at all

Yeah, that's what i was after.

I've been restricting Elements use for times when i need all the elements available displayed on screen vs just the required ones when hiking (so as to not clutter my map), but i'll play with it and the text scales more and see if i get a better balance. Like i said, not a big deal at all.

Thanks for the reply!

[nahannidog]

, you should use Settings > Maps > Mapsforge settings > Mapsforge text size with a factor <1. But I'm not sure that's what you...

Excuse me for a tangential quesion but I have new phone(Samsung), new android OS version(10), new version of Oruxmaps GP(10.1.1 GP), new version of Colorado Topo map (2023-05-06), and consequently have navigational problems in the app!  I can find where store the Mapsforge or renderthermes (SD card) but cannot find where to SELECT the different render themes.  I used to use Map icon/Map tweaks/Maps forge theme/<Default, Elements or Elevate> but in v10.1.1 Map icon only gives map selection.

I actually did stumble across a way to choose the theme, but can't believe it's the only way to select theme....I used the older version of the app to determine what the icon is for "Mapsforge theme" and added that icon to the map screen.  Is the a more straightforward way to select Mapsforge theme???

[Lenz]

Hello nahannidog,
do you use the "classical" user interface or the unified interface?

With the classical interface, the way you described still works (for me):
map symbol (top button bar) - map tweaks - mapsforge theme -> possibility to choose theme
or
left menu - mapsforge theme -> possibility to choose theme

With the unified interface:
left menu - mapsforge maps -> under map style you see all your installed themes

Best regards
Lenz

[ut]

Problems Elevate with Orux10.0.x GP  with VTM (Rotating labels in vector:  maps-Settings - Maps- Mapsforge settings - VTM map viewer'): without VTM viewer Oruxmaps works perfectly with OpenAndroMaps  and "Elevate" (last version 5.2) that I can configure (mtb, city, walking,...).

However if I activate VTM viewer  I can not change the theme or configure it (it works with last theme and setting I used without VTM viewer)!

Clearing the cache doesn't fix anything       VTM viewer is very nice and it's a pity not to use it......x...

I got non solution from Orux..


Ps: the same thing with previus 9.7beta18 as described
https://oruxmaps.org/forum/index.php?topic=41039.msg55130#msg55130

[eartrumpet]

Sounds like an OruxMaps issue, as the map menus work well with other apps that use VTM. Although Elevate is best used with mspsforge, as it uses rendering styles/rules that are not available in VTM.

[ut]

Hi Eartrumpet, thanks for the prompt reply.. which is exactly what I was afraid of!
I will continue without VTM as the Elevate theme with its configurability is really indispensable for me!
...and thanks again for your great work!