Template talk:Software

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Platform specific images

Several applications look vastly different depending on the platform their running on. Right now one image is used to populate all software lists. I propose an image entry for each platform that can overwrite the default image for platform specific lists. --ChristianVetter 09:21, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Hi Christian. So you talking a about the screenshots, right? Well actually nobody realy added screenshot to the apps, so it was hard work to fill them. Even if I understand your point, I would say we haven't got the people to keep the images up to date and to add ones to new tools :( --!i! 11:35, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Adding this feature would be possible from a technical point of view. Of course there would be a fallback to the normal "screenshot" parameter, so it wouldn't be a problem at all if only a few tools had platform-specific images - the others would simply use the generic screenshot. By the way, a developer who cares about presenting his application to the OSM community in the best way possible should try to keep the images up to date himself.

I suggest using a syntax for this which doesn't require hard-coded knowledge that "android" or "linux" is a platform, for example screenshot:platform_android = .... --Tordanik 12:00, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

This would do --ChristianVetter 17:35, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Another vote for having the possibility to specify screenshots per platform. For an example of a software that is available for multiple platforms - and look quite different between them - see GPSed_Mobile_Application, http://gpsed.com/downloads . For now, i just added the screenshot of the J2ME edition (because that's the one i'm using) to the wiki entry - but it for sure would be nice to give the iPhone edition its own screenshot. Thanks! axk 17:09, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Yes this is a good usecase. But as I said I don't believe that we've got the manpower to keep this informations up to date. Well I checked >100 tool pages and on the most even the authors are to lazy to update/make screenshots. So I guess nobody from the community would do this. The same experience on List of OSM based services. Beside that, do you wan't to show up up to 3 screenshots in a summarizing table? --!i! 17:32, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

I do not understand why manpower should be a problem if this feature is essentially an optional one? Each tool that has no specialized screenshots just gets the default one displayed. Specialized tables could use the specialized screenshots if available ( and the default as a fallback ) and more generic tables would use the default screenshot. This would only require changed to the bot and not a single wiki page would have to be edited. Then, wiki pages of applications with platform specific screenshots could be adjusted easily by the author ( to promote the software ) or other wiki users. But no necessity to do so would arise from this change. --ChristianVetter 00:45, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

I just think we make a lot of work to add details no one adds to the tools :( How to get the first relase date, how to make screens from diff. versions? To me this sounds a little bit immoderate but nevertheless we could add your ideas if Tordanik is ok with them. To me it's just tuning the template ;) --!i! 07:40, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

How do we deal with this requirement? Aren't plattform specific images on the single wiki pages (outside of the software template) enough? --!i! 20:58, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Platform specific versions of software

Hey, Just saw that Skobbler is listed as proprietary at the Android article, but it's free! The iOS-version is proprietary and costs 1.59€. Any chance to distinguish these versions with the software-template? Kerosin 09:19, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

It would be possible to extend template and bot software and support platform-dependent versions, prices etc., similar to the suggestion of using platform-specific screenshots. However, the easier solution would likely be to treat Skobbler for Android and Skobbler for iOS as two different programs. After all, they have different source code, different licenses and different prices - they just happen to use the same brand. --Tordanik 10:53, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

So you would recommend using the software2-template twice in the skobbler-article? Kerosin 18:29, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

j2me

Framework j2me should give a platform j2me entry, since every j2me software is capable to run on any j2me mobile phone. We should then link from symbian to new j2me platform page, since every symbian phone can run this software, too.--Zuse 08:09, 28 October 2010 (BST)

I think I understand your idea. But J2ME is just a subset of the whole Java library so it can run on desktops, too. This is why I choose to tag it as framework. What I dont understand is why we should split up the pages? Currently it's not that much stuff anymore in the mobile phones pages :) --!i! 10:48, 28 October 2010 (BST)

Does J2ME software runs on desktops, too? I thought there must be an Emulator shipped with the SDK but not the JRE. Anyway. The Wiki should provide me with detailed information about: Which software is available for my device/platform. If i have an Android-Device i get a list with all available software. Nice. (BTW Windows should be populated via this template, too.) If i visit Symbian i get not all the software, because j2me software is not included. One solution is: Append in all framework-j2me software pages the platform symbian. Problem solved. What about Samsung Bada? It is capable to run j2me, too! If Android gets a proper j2me support, we have to change all framework-j2me pages. If you generate a framework list J2ME, we can link from Android to this new list and work is done. If someone knows that Bada, Android, xy is capable to run j2me, he must change only one page (and could perhaps write: "not all j2me is working, try for yourself". Today the expert has to change a lot of pages and possible new pages, too.

Well ok I think we will keep this in mind, please give us a few days to discuss/apply your changes :) --!i! 14:46, 28 October 2010 (BST)

Thanks a lot for this page :-) Zuse 08:26, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

J2ME ist not a subset of J2SE and does not run on desktops.--Lulu-Ann 13:20, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Suggestions for improving the template 2

I'd like to add few more parameters: showTraffic, calcFastRoute, calcShortestRoute, calcOptimalRoute, calcEasiestRoute, useTrafficForRouting --Ujos 12:06, 16 September 2017 (UTC)

Nearly two years ago I extended tables with many entries on Software/Mobilephones page, which was appropriate for applications that run on a mobile phone and display gps position on a map. However, now it extended to desktop applications also, and I feel that some software hard to place in there, so I propose some changes. In the following page I summarized my proposals: User:City-busz/Software

I also note some details here:

• General: replace 'iphone' with 'ios' in 'platform' key; add 'monitor' to 'gerne'

No problem, even if I would say iPhone is more known than iOS, so would preffer all values of iOS, iPhone, iPod, iPad if it's possible

I think that 'ios' should be used by default, and we can keep other values for compatibility reasons. --City-busz 17:13, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

• Feature section: add 'analyzing', 'editing', 'rendering' and 'accessibility' keys corresponding to main sections.

Accessibility is allready under use. Wouldn't rendering get in conflict with map display attributes? Please keep in mind that main categorie is do show the intention of a tool. But generaly I agree.

See 'Display map' and 'Render and convert map' categories on my page fore differences. --City-busz 17:13, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

• Navi section: add 'online;offline' values to 'findLocation', 'findNearbyPOI' and 'navigateRoute' keys for indicate if internet connection required; replace 'turnRestrictions' with 'restrictions' for indicate access restrictions also.

Good idea. What are further values for restrictions?

'restrictions' values are 'turn' and 'access'. --City-busz 17:13, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

What exactly will a navi need to support to get the restriction=access tag? While most navigation applications will support a plain access=no, proper support is more rare for hierarchical <vehicle class> keys and other values than yes and no. (For example, barely any router supports "destination" values.) Then there are features which are almost universally ignored - such as :forward/:backward suffixes, or even time-based access restrictions. The situation is actually similar for turn restrictions: Some applications support restrictions with a via node, but not those with a via way, for example. --Tordanik 19:18, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

• Monitoring section: move 'showExistingTrack' to analyse section; add 'showPosition' key to indicate that the application can show the current position, and can communicate with GPS or other geoinformation service; replace 'showDOP' with 'showAccuracy', so it's more general.

The order of the tags is free. Not every tool can show up other saved tracks to follow/navigate along them, so I would keep it there. Why to move showPosition? The DOP thing is right.

I think that this section used for properties that according to current GPS position, but 'showExistingTrack' more suitable in 'Analyse and convert track' category. The 'showPosition' is a new value, it's required to indicate that software can interact with GPS. --City-busz 17:13, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

• Logger section: add 'time;distance;speed' values to 'customInterval' for indicate that what modes are supported; move 'uploadGPX' to analyse section.

We can do this but I guess nobody will fill out this details. UploadGPX is to indicate if it can send tracks directly to OSM and should be renamed...

• Analyse section: it's extended to be usable with track analiser and conveter software like Prune, GPX Viewer and GPSBabel; move 'showSpeed' to monitoring section.

No problem, any ideas on attributes?

See 'Analyse and convert track' category on my page. --City-busz 17:13, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

• Renderer section: it's extended to be usable on OSM Map On Garmin page.

Garmin is just one piece of the cake. It has to be usable on the whole Rendering List. Would be nice if you would recommend further attributes --!i! 16:16, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

See 'Render and convert map' category on my page. --City-busz 17:13, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

• Map display, editor and accessibility sections are not changed.

• I also propose the order of sections as in my page for better suit to the mapping workflow.

Thats not a problem, the tags can be in any order

I'll help the transition if any above proposals are accepted. --City-busz 15:10, 6 November 2010 (UTC)

Your help is more then welcome. Finding the right attributes for all of this usecases would be finde :)

Hi, thanks for your ideas City. Might take a time to apply all of this. I guess we should extend it that way, that we can catch the infos on Routing/OfflineRouters, Renderers, Import, Export, Convert too. But this will take a bit, so please be patient :) --!i! 15:24, 6 November 2010 (UTC)

I think we should decide to apply the template for GUI applications only, or we use this for all software including command line applications and import scripts. If yes, than we should add a new 'userInterface' key to indicate that. I propose the following:

• Routing/OfflineRouters properties can go to 'Navigation and routing' section. Maybe should extended with some keys like 'algorithms', 'houseNumbers', 'lanes'.
• Renderers, Import, Export, Convert properties can go to 'Render and convert map' section, e.g. 'openMapFormats=osm' 'renderingFormats=svg' for osmarender.
• Converting GPS track data between formats properties can go to 'Analyse and convert track' section. --City-busz 16:36, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

iOS

I'll start at the top of the long list. ;) Using ios as a platform value seems like an obvious choice, especially as someone has already suggested to move/rename the associated pages on Talk:IPhone, which could be combined with this update. So unless someone objects, we can start the transition right now. We only need to decide whether we try to update all existing pages instantly, or whether we should treat ios and iphone values as synonyms for now and phase out the iphone value more slowly. --Tordanik 22:24, 6 November 2010 (UTC)

A platform value containing "ios" will now make an app show up on Apple_iOS#Apps. "iphone" is accepted for compatibility reasons. --Tordanik 19:07, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Ads

An increasingly relevant question, especially on web/mobile platforms, is whether the application displays advertisements. I suggest an ads=yes/no key for this. For clarity, this would refer specifically to ads displayed within the application itself, not to ads on associated websites. --Tordanik 22:35, 6 November 2010 (UTC)

I think that is also a solution to add 'adware', 'freeware' and 'shareware' values to 'price' key or to a new 'distribution' key. --City-busz 01:59, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

There can be combinations of these (for example, shareware applications which also display ads in the free, stripped-down version, thus providing another incentive for an upgrade). I cases like this, I find it easier for evaluation to have separate keys than to handle keys with multiple values. --Tordanik 17:17, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Even if I see that this info is usefull we have to think about that we still need users that filling this attributes. I'm not sure if we get to detailed here :/ On the oter side Ads can be in a very hidden way e.g. sponsored search results --!i! 07:20, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

It's additional information. We don't need to start with complete coverage - if someone notices ads in a software they thought was ad-free, they can quickly add that bit of data. It would be possible to display that information where it is available. You aren't forced to add this to every page ad once - just as I can propose a new tag for OSM without expecting it to be used on each and every road by tomorrow. --Tordanik 17:17, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Categorical and list organization of information

moved from Talk:Software

There are two approaches to this problem: either develop a real software catalog system or treat software like any other information class organizedon the wiki. The software template allows both to be achieved. Suggested categorization/description axes for software, to be implemented at the Category and/or List level; all of these should be implemented at the template level so that inclusion in particular lists or in particular categories is data driven rather than manually maintained (input from Ceyockey 01:24, 10 November 2010 (UTC)):

• OS version — Specific versions of specific operating systems where a piece of software is able to function
• Use case — Functional axis describing for what a piece of software is used. There is not a good well thought out list of use cases for the map data and this would be an opportunity to start building one which has utility. Suggested values:
  • GPS data collection
  • Navigation
  • Map display
  • Map annotation
  • Geocaching sport
  • Data-type conversion
  • etc.
• Year of introduction — this would provide the basis for a time-line of application development
• Author — this would allow people to see what variety of software is being produced by individual developers or specific companies
• Copyright status — that is, open-source vs. proprietary vs. some in-between shade of open/closed-ness. I think that the free-as-in-beer axis is not really needed, but that the free-as-in-speech axis is indeed needed.
• Dependency — What software has dependencies and what does not (but for particular OS version)

Hi Ceyockey, nice ideas, can you move it to [[Talk:Template:Software2]] please? There is currently an discussion on expanding the template already. On a first view all sounds good but I see nobody that will update this high grade details regulary :( --!i! 07:08, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

I think the followings:

• OS version: can be used the existing 'platform' key. However I don't think that anyone will tests the applications on every OS versions.
• Use case: can be used the existing 'genre' key.
• Year of introduction: it maybe useful, can be a new 'year' key.
• Author: use the existing 'author' key.
• License: use the existing 'licence' key.
• Dependency: too deep detail, I not advocate this. --City-busz 03:31, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

The "year of introduction" can be instantly added to the template imo, I don't see any problem with it. However, it seems like a good choice to use "firstRelease=YYYY-MM-DD" instead of just the year. Leaving out the days and months would of course still be possible. Even something like a timeline of OSM applications (Good suggestion btw! I'd really love to see someone build this.) would really lack detail with only years, considering that OSM hasn't existed for that many years yet. --Tordanik 20:05, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Navigation features

I would like to split the "navigation along a predefined route" into "Navigation along a track (GPX, KLM or similar)" and "navigation along a relation" (Hiking trail, Camino de Santiago or similar). --Lulu-Ann 13:22, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't see a problem with this, we can probably add it. Do you have example applications for the two cases? --Tordanik 20:38, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Applications? No, but usecases. Both are requirements for LoroDux, but both are not realized yet. Loadstone does point by point navigation on a track that comes from Google Maps routing with the converter "GRoute".

Detours are relations and should be useful to find or avoid an alternative route when there is a traffic jam on the motorway. --Lulu-Ann 13:49, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

To me this doens't sound that important cause this is highly detailed and currently we have no release software that would benefit from this detailes. We should care about making our software catalogue more transparent for the most users and not getting to much in detailes for specialised tools. --!i! 20:56, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Editors

I added a template to all the editors on the wiki. I thought about usefull details, how about this ones:

• RelationWizzards
• ImageryClient
• OSBClient (or a generall userFeedback=yes/no would be cool for any OSM app in general?)
• OAuth

A huge problem for mobile editors is the extracting of POIs that are buildings (so ways). We might add this detail, too --!i! 11:05, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Renderers

Currently adding renderers think we should add rows for:

• contours
• tileserver integrated
• style=GSS,MapCSS,XML,Wiki

--!i! 18:42, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Sorting Tables

The tables at Android are quite long. Would it be possible to sort them by number of 'Yes' or 'green features'? They would easier to read, even if this would be a bit like a ranking. --Yvecai 09:03, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

So we are talking about defaults? You can already sort any wikitable by clicking at the icon in the corresponding column header :) --!i! 11:54, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

extend table display

Okay, I agree that I should do it but I have no time right now, but maybe someone feels like... There are huge amounts of information in the template data and really few of them is displayed. Some are generally irrelevant, but a few would be pretty good to display. I mean especially online vs. offline usage, tiles vs. vector rendering; the former defines quite disctinctive usage cases while the latter shows how much pressure the program causes on the tile servers. (I usually try to avoid anything which is not "offline" and "vector rendering"; in this case it became important to know what vector format it uses and how they can be acquired, for example Locus cannot provide native vector data but it is fairly easy to generate using osmosis, while OsmAnd provides native, updated downloading possibilities.) --grin ✎ 12:06, 3 June 2012 (BST)

Remove Deprecated applications from List ?

Is there a way to remove applications from our that are no longer available for download anywhere, no longer actively developed or supported ?

There's 3 instances that I've found AndNav2 and Bigplanet-maps, BigTinCan_Mapper and only through letters A and B...

It would be nice to see them not immediately listed on the Android page.

This is currently not possible but I agree that it is becoming necessary.

A straightforward approach would be to introduce a single new projectStatus parameter with values such as "unfinished" (under development, no public releases yet), "active" (published and actively maintained), "unmaintained" (does still work, but no maintenance or development of new features is taking place anymore), "broken"/"historic" (no maintenance, no longer works) and/or possibly others. This could then be used to remove them from those tables that focus on currently available software. --Tordanik 00:51, 22 October 2012 (BST)

Ignored options

For routingProviders I´d appreciate if option "OSRM" could be evaluated. We use this routing engine but mentioning it does not create a new column in the related routing table.--Markus59 (talk) 17:36, 5 May 2013 (UTC) For genre I´d like to propose to add "share" or "social" or something like that to classify apps with the main purpose of sharing information.--Markus59 (talk) 17:36, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Merging templates

Is it possible to merge Template:Software2Translated into Template:Software? Another parameter named lang can be set, so that it changes the template's labels. Default value is en. --★ → Airon 90 10:26, 12 June 2014 (UTC)

As of now, TTTBot relies on the difference between the two templates to avoid duplicated entries. If that were fixed, the merge would be possible. --Tordanik 10:18, 15 June 2014 (UTC)

TTTBot is dead. Is there any reason to avoid such merge? Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 18:32, 18 March 2022 (UTC)

Adding parameters: Knowledge base and bug reports

I am thinking of adding two parameters: knowledge_base would be the URL to a community assistance page (which could be the listing for a tag on the help forum such as https://help.openstreetmap.org/tags/ideditor/) and bugs for the preferred place to report issues to the developers (which could be on Trac or Github and covers the advice on Bugs to report problems on a program-specific page).--Andrew (talk) 07:10, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

SemanticMediaWiki

Did you consider installing w:mw:SMW or the simpler w:mw:extension:Cargo to populate pages such as Android automatically? Duplication is nasty. --Nemo (talk) 04:30, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

mark as dead

Ability to mark software as dead and discontinued would be useful Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 14:39, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

I agree that this is needed, and the parameter should probably automatically add it to a suitable category. Maybe the suggestion from #Remove Deprecated applications from List ? would work? --Tordanik 16:47, 11 May 2018 (UTC)

Small ref numbers is not showing behind main text?

See title and change: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=DE:Mapillary&curid=250534&diff=2114844&oldid=2087589
Or did i use wrong syntax? --MalgiK (talk) 18:33, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

The template uses #replace parser function. It apparently removes any other tags inside the replacement. --Tigerfell  (Let's talk) 13:09, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for checking, is this intended or should this be fixed? --MalgiK (talk) 19:53, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

Probably the second one. I guess the template authors intended to force commas as separators of multiple software authors and did not take references into account. --Tigerfell  (Let's talk) 21:46, 22 February 2021 (UTC)

I suggest to move the reference out of the template. I did it so you can see what I mean. Alternatively, one could add another parameter to the template. It already has 75 parameters, that's why I did not do that. --Tigerfell  (Let's talk) 10:13, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

BlackBerry World is defunct

Get rid of mentions of it in the template? --Andrew (talk) 08:47, 18 March 2022 (UTC)

Removed dead linking to BlackBerry World. Added tooltip note that it is closed. --Chris2map (talk) 15:02, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

Huawei AppGallery as an install option

Huawei AppGallery is used as a distribution method for a lot of apps, especially in the east. it should be supported :) --Endim8 (talk) 22:55, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Hi, I can't tell anything about this app store. Could you provide the url that would have to be used to link to an app, and a list of OSM related apps available there? --Chris2map (talk) 15:21, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

Another parameter to create notes

Currently, there are two parameters related to notes. They can be used for these capabilities in the apps:

• viewNotes - Show the existing notes. It can be a list of notes or the location of the notes on a map.
• editNotes - Allows the addition and resolution of notes. Eventually, it can allow the reopening of a note. This operation should be done with an OSM user (not anonymous)

I propose an extra tag for this template called "addNotes." The purpose is to show that the application allows the creation of a note (locate the note on a map and add some text). This operation can be with a logged user or anonymous. Not all applications that show notes allow note creation.

Filtering software that

• Allows creating notes is promising for newbies or people that want to report but not to map.
  • An example of only creating notes software is OnOSM.org.
• Allows view and edit notes, is suitable for note solvers (people that resolve OSM notes).

AngocA (talk) 04:07, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

Please add Logo

Die meisten Programme haben ein Logo. Wäre schön, wenn das im Kasten angezeigt werden könnte, zusätzlich zum Screenshot.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Gruss, --Markus (talk) 07:03, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

I just added parameter "logo" as a proposal. Feel free to revert, change or what ever it. Gruss, --Chris2map (talk) 15:56, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

Hi Chris, superschnell - danke! Anwendung in diesem Beispiel: Das Logo erscheint, aber die Position passt noch nicht so recht? Unten meinte ich mit "cropped" den weissen Rand beim Screensot in der Box. Schöner wäre, wenn der volle Platz ausgenutzt wäre. Gruss, --Markus (talk) 22:33, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

Die Logo-Position habe ich mit Absicht über Titelleiste und Screenshot überlappend gewählt (sozusagen schwebend), so dass kein extra Feld oder Platz für das Logo geschaffen werden muss und trotzdem noch erkannbar bleibt, dass es eine separate Bilddatei ist. Ist ein Versuch. – Wegen der weißen Ränder: Der Grund ist, dass die Breite der Box vom Text abhängt, d.h. die Box bei langen Wörtern breiter wird. Im Beispiel wird die Box-Breite durch den Inhalt "Programmiersprache:" in der linken Spalte und "https://leafletjs.com" in der rechten Spalte bestimmt. Wenn die Abbildung die Breite ausfüllen würde, wären bei aufgrund des Textinhalts breiteren Boxen die Bilder relativ groß, bei schmalen Boxen dagegen klein. Daher ist eine feste maximale Breite bzw. Höhe für die Screenshots angegeben (je nachdem, ob die Abbildung Quer- oder Hochformat ist). Z.B. bei Mumpot wäre ein Skalieren auf die ganze Breite zu viel. --Chris2map (talk) 17:44, 29 June 2023 (UTC)

Ok, verstehe. In WP wird das so gemacht - vielleicht wöre das ja auch etwas für dieses Wiki? Ist aber nicht so wichtig - danke für Deine Arbeit. Gruss, --Markus (talk) 19:14, 29 June 2023 (UTC)

Danke für den Tipp! Da habe ich noch nicht dran gedacht, mal auf den anderen Wikis zu schauen. Das Thema ist dort allerdings das selbe. Z.B. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potlatch_(Software) Fällt nur durch die Farbgestaltung dort weniger auf. Gruss --Chris2map (talk) 19:23, 29 June 2023 (UTC)

Screenshot 100 %

Why screensots are cropped left and right? (Example) Gruss, --Markus (talk) 07:36, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

Hmm, there is no cropping for me. I use Firefox browser. --Chris2map (talk) 15:06, 28 June 2023 (UTC)