QR-Code overlay

I actually added the ability to add a QR code on the map to the renderer backend quite a while ago, but up to now it was only accessible via a command line parameter when starting the renderer directly.

This has now changed, and the web interface now offers a new QR code effects overlay. For now the endoced text is fixed to the request URL of the rendered map itself, but as soon as I’ve finished my plans for allowing for input of extra overlay customization parameters the QR code content will be freely customizeable.

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Some basic PDF hyperlink support

I’ve started to add some hyperlinks to the multipage PDF output, now that CairoGraphics and PyCairo support this.

For now only the “next page” arrows on the edges of the detail map pages are linked to the target pages in the PDF:

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UPDATE: The page rectangles on the overview now link to the detail pages, too

Continue reading “Some basic PDF hyperlink support”

40,000 maps rendered

Last week this MapOSMatic instance processed its 40,000s map request, for a map of Sindelfingen, Germany.

While request numbers per day are fluctuating quite a bit there’s an obvious, but slow upwards trend, with typically over a hundred requests processed per day.

Fun fact: over the last year activity slowly shifted from peaks on weekends to higher activity on regular weekdays.

If you want to have a look for yourself: here are the Munin monitorign graphs

Upcoming Downtime, New Server

I’m preparing to move to new (faster and more affordable) server.

If all goes well I’ll move services over to the new machine on Sunday evening (September 30th, 18:00UTC).

During the switchover the service will be offline for an hour or two, for moving over existing rendering results to the new machine and doing some testing.

After that rendering should be a little bit faster as all databases will fit on the machines SSDs then, and there will be enough “rotating rust” HDD space for keeping rendered results around for a few months instead of just a some two weeks again.

HTTP api now live, and new, shorter host names

The first public version of the HTTP API is now live, allowing you to submit render request from within your own applications.

Also new, shorter, host names now exist to access the service, instead of https://maposmatic.osm-baustelle.de/ you can now also use https://print.get-map.org/ and https://api.get-map.org/ , all of these being aliases for the same MapOSMatic instance.

There’s also API documentation, including a few simple PHP example programs, available as HTML and PDF