Set up tile server?

[acka47]

As the tile server used for NWBib and lobid-organisations was discontinued without us being aware of it in advance (see hbz/nwbib#325 and hbz/lobid-organisations#234) we should think about measures to avoid something like this in the future. One obvious solution would be to set up a hbz-wide tile server.

There were some thoughts in this direction within the world map project, see e.g. https://github.com/hbz/oerworldmap/issues/472. However, during a physical team meeting @philboeselager, @j0hj0h and @literarymachine came to the conclusion that we would need terabytes of memory for a tile server covering the whole world with all zoom levels. Thus, the plans were put on ice.

Here are some links for setting up an OSM tile server:

• Tile server requirements from https://switch2osm.org/serving-tiles/building-a-tile-server-from-packages/:

  If you want to import and render the whole world, you will need a considerably beefier server than a typical desktop. E.g. starting from about 24Gb of RAM upwards. It is also strongly recomend to use an SSD for the database or at least a fast RAID array. The full planet import is currently around about 256GB, so to store all of the DB on an SSD, you will likely need a 512GB SSD. An import that is not updated and uses the –drop option on the otherhand likely still fits on a 256GB SSD. You can also selectively put the most important parts of the database on an SSD and the rest on slower disks. Osm2pgsql supports using separate tablespaces for different parts of the database for this purpose.

• Some numbers from the OSM tile server: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tile_disk_usage

[dr0i]

Just a note: we now 2TB of SSD in every one of the 5 weywot's.

[dr0i]

IT proposed to set up a tileserver, at least for DACH region, and even to open it for library institutions. We should really do this, e.g. beacuse of https://github.com/hbz/lobid-organisations/issues/430 .

[acka47]

I just noticed that DBS also recently enabled using a map to visualize DBS data, see https://www.hbz-nrw.de/aktuelles/nachrichten/bibliotheksstatistik-neues-werkzeug-zur-visualisierung-von-dbs-daten. They are currently using the OSM tile server. So there are definitely several products now using tile servers (home page, lobid-organisations, NWBib, DBS, OER World Map) and it would make sense to set up an hbz tile server.

[fsteeg]

So there are definitely several products now using tile servers (home page, lobid-organisations, NWBib, DBS, OER World Map)

lobid-gnd too, see https://lobid.org/gnd/4005728-8

And currently it seems to be broken for organisations, gnd, and nwbib.

[dr0i]

Hooray IT provides a tileserver, at least for europe and up to zoom level 17. We can use it via lobid proxy.

• [x] lobid-resources
• [x] lobid-organisations
• [x] lobid-gnd
• [x] nwbib

[dr0i]

Hmm, the tiles have a dark style I havenÄt encountered before. (https://github.com/hbz/lobid-resources/pull/1093#issuecomment-742596783)

Map style is https://opentopomap.org/about where it is said:

Der Kartenstil orientiert sich an den amtlichen Karten und setzt auf gute Lesbarkeit

It was choosen by IT. I think it's not really dark, but has good contrast, and since it seems to be orientated by official maps and guarantees good readability (which is a desiderat when it comes to barrier freedom) I think we can go with it.

[edit:]Ah @acka47 now I see what you mean with "dark": in contrast to the old style houses are now shown, as black boxes, only shaded when zooming max. The showing of houses and their house numbers is a good thing IMHO because it's easier to find the correct place (library) , but it's arguably if this is really needed.

[dr0i]

In principal, this issue is solved. There remain questions, if you like:

1. only europe is available. Is this enough?
2. the style may be discussible
3. is the zoom level sufficient (I think it is) ...

[acka47]

1. only europe is available. Is this enough?

In GND (and even a bit in lobid-organisations) we have some places outside of Europe. See e.g. https://test.lobid.org/gnd/4064682-8. The continents are at lest there so it is not nothing. However, couldn't we add the rest of the world with much less detail but that at least the names of the bigger cities are displayed?

2. the style may be discussible

It's ok for me. We should move forward with this.

3. is the zoom level sufficient (I think it is)

Yes, i's definitely enough.

[dr0i]

I asked IT , they will decide how to go on, first comments seem to tend to not add world data :( .

[dr0i]

IT now willing to provide World Tiles :) See https://github.com/hbz/lobid/issues/436.

[dr0i]

This seems to be resolved, we have mapped the world to tiles.

[acka47]

+1