The ArcBruTile 0.5 new version is available. To download, follow this link:
As it is not easy to have an
updated documentation of this tool, in this article there is some useful
information to make the most of it.
We will discuss one by one the toolbar available options.
OpenStreetMap
The available option under this menu item is Mapnik
Mapnik is a free map rendering
software that is used by OSM to draw the main map. OSM
uses Mapnik to draw 256 x 256 px squares, which are then delivered from the
tile server at tile.openstreetmap.org.
Mapnik tiles are generated and
stored on the tile.openstreetmap.org server. They are
calculated by a weekly extraction which is currently carried out on Wednesday
mornings (GMT / BST time zone). Each tile has its date of
creation and a simple marking of obsolescence (flag or flag) meaning that it is
ready to be recalculated. The rendering engine follows
these few rules:
- When a user checks a tile on the OSM site, there is an automatic control to discover if it is more than seven days older than.
- If it is > seven days, it is ticked as obsolete (and , therefore, it will renew ).
A rendering process generates through a background process, a list of all the ‘obsolete’ tiles and; then launches the new rendering for these tiles . Once finished , it requests for a new list of tiles marked as obsolete .
Therefore , if no one is watching an area, it will not be updated often . The tiles are recalculated according to interest / attention. To tick a tile as obsolete does not include those tiles covering the same area at higher zoom levels as obsolete . If you read ‘More OpenStreetMap coming soon …’ on a tile, it means that there is no data for this one and that it is on queue to be recalculated .
The other OSM rendering engine, Osmarender , is not accessible with ArcBruTile .
Bing
Since ArcBruTile no longer displays Google Maps , this option remains the most used . No need to search for Bing Traffic options , you are limited to basic displays .
Stamen
Stamen is a company based in San Francisco, that has developed applications from OpenStreetMaps .
The Terrain option only covers the United States, while two others , Watercolor and Toner, cover the whole world .
The option Watercolor is used for the map background. It applies effects on the OpenStreetMaps coverage that gives the map a hand drawing watercolor style.
The Toner option is a rendering black and white high contrast OpenStreetMap data.
The following figure shows an example of both options jointly .
MapBox
MapBox is an American company specialized in on-line mapping and very linked to OpenStreetMaps .
Satellite coverage, with a definition clearly inferior to Bing Satellite, does not offer much interest .
MapQuest
MapQuest is an American company that works on the OpenStreetMap data.
The OpenAerialMap option only covers the United States.
The OSM option displays the same data as OppenstreetMap with a slightly different rendering.
Strava
Strava is a site dedicated to cyclo-tourism . You can simply show sections of Strava, but no associated information . The interest of such display escapes me . But if you find one , it’s possible to do it.
Tianditu
Tianditu is the Chinese world server. The only problem is that I have never come across this server in the right place . Let’s be honest , I have sought a little but my Chinese being very rudimentary and most of the articles being in VO, I have not found a solution. It must be said that with version 0.4 all I got while trying to display the Tianditu layer was to crash ArcMap in each attempt.
In any case , if you have any tips…please let me enlighten my ignorance!
Other providers
We have discussed all the ArcBruTile toolbar elements , but it, still, remains one,
By clicking Add TMS service you open a window that lets you select a provider and, within this provider , a service.
In addition to the directly available services in the toolbar, you will find GISCloud ( a cover of Map type and another satellite types, for the moment almost non-existent ) and VWorld , the Korean server which covers, predominantly, Asia .
