[gdal-dev] OSM driver with z_order values

[Jeff McKenna]

Hi all,

I've successfully used the OSM driver[1] to convert from the OSM pbf 
binary format into another (in my case Postgres/PostGIS, and testing 
with Japan dataset).  The time to do this is much much faster than other 
tools such as osm2pgsql (once I learned the "PG_USE_COPY YES" parameter 
the time went from more than 3 hours down to minutes).

That is the good news.  The bad news is that I am stuck now because the 
OSM driver does not set z_order (rendering order) values, which are 
important for display in MapServer (and Mapnik etc.).  Tools like 
osm2pgsql and imposm do set those values[2].

Now I realize that I could go through the osm2pgsql/imposm code and set 
those myself manually somehow, once I figure out the exact logic used by 
those tools, but, I am wondering if this could be added to the OGR/OSM 
driver itself, as it is so useful for many mapping projects (?).

Call this a wishlist email then, but I just thought I'd file the request :)

-jeff


[1] http://www.gdal.org/drv_osm.html
[2] https://github.com/omniscale/imposm/blob/master/imposm/mapping.py#L684



-- 
Jeff McKenna
MapServer Consulting and Training Services
http://www.gatewaygeomatics.com/