Vector maps: Don't rotate labels and icons

Ingo Rau shared this idea 6 years ago
Gathering feedback

I know this is not a small thing, but I think it should at least be given a look at:

Currently, vector maps are rendered as cached tiles with everything on them, including labels and icons (that are part of the map). When auto rotation is activated, texts are hard to read when driving south, because the tiles are rotated as a whole.

It would be if Locus could behave more like Google maps, which keeps labels and icons always upright and changes street names orientation once the start to be upside down.

I realize that probably needs a little more computing power, but there could be a switch to turn it off on slower devices. And the functionality wouldn't be entirely new, as Locus already does it correctly for the icons for points from the database.

Replies (7)

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I agree, this is an essential thing. Maybe it would be good to reconsider the map loading approach in the future. Other apps, e.g. MapsMe (previously called MapsWithMe) load the map elements dynamically and the map is much faster and without grey tiles…

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Why hasn't it been done yet? Yesterday I used autorotation of the map but text on map didn't rotate. It was very hard to navigate in this way.

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IMHO lack of label rotation is the weakest point of Locus. Rotated maps are unusable now.

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Another reason to follow https://github.com/mapsforge/mapsforge/blob/master/docs/LabelLayer.md approach (extra

Label Layer), which also fixes the random disappearance of labels

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Push up.

Would be nice to have Menion comment on this ;) - it's got quite some votes...

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One of the biggest app weak points ... agree.

Complicated task. Do not expect any change this year, sorry. We plan bigger update of map rendering system, so hopefully at the start of next year ...

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@Menion: In http://help.locusmap.eu/topic/not-possible-to-remove-load-more-information-result-of-the-point, you're talking about "new map core". Is this the new map rendering system mentioned here?

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Yes, this is something I'm working on the last two months. Anyway, current changes have nothing to do with map rendering of vector maps. For this is more relevant my post from yesterday: http://forum.locusmap.eu/index.php?topic=6341.msg53440#msg53440 .

Rotated labels, hmm another complicated task :)

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An interesting task.

At best, labels along paths would stay aligned to paths, but auto rotate smoothly (fading) 180 if necessary.

Improvement in that field IMO would give Locus a boost in competition.

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