Custom maps with iD Editor

Question

Lately I have been working on a indoor navigation project for a school. It all works but I think it can be faster and easier to edit, so I began searching and came upon iD editor (which is made (?) by OpenStreetMap). It looks very good. The only thing I can't find is if I can use it with my own maps. Does anyone know if it is possible, and if not, does anyone know an alternative?

Thanks in advance,
Lars Jansen
The Netherlands

Answer 1

If you just need a simple overlay with some markers or routes then you can use Leaflet or OpenLayers.

It is also possible to create a completely personal map, but it will require to set up a complete backend. iD is just the editor. If you want to see the resulting map in you browser you will need:

• a postgres database for storing the map data
• a renderer for creating images (tiles) from this database, for example Mapnik
• a java script library like Leaflet or OpenLayers for creating a browsable map from the rendered tiles
• possibly a geocoding service like Nominatim if you need a search function

As you can see, OSM's main goal is not to create personal maps. Still it is possible but requires some effort to set it up (switch2osm has some useful guides).

Also take a look at similar questions on help.openstreeetmap.org, including possible alternatives:

• https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/27621/personalised-maps
• https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/22827/using-id-editor-to-for-personal-alternative-maps
• https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/11069/does-openstreetmap-have-a-my-places-feature-like-google-maps
• https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/24591/create-my-own-addresses-roads-and-ways-on-a-custom-world-map
• https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/4496/how-to-create-fantasyimaginary-maps-with-openstreetmap

Answer 2

I'm not familiar with this editor specifically, but there are generally two ways to add custom maps:

Image overlay: for OSM it looks like its called Open Layers: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenLayers

Custom WMS source: probably overkill - although it looks like partial local caches are supported- so that might be just what you're after: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Creating_your_own_tiles

Sorry I can't help more- good luck!