[Qgis-developer] Request for Enhancement: PDF export for post-processing

[Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)]

Hi Milo, I just missed you in IRC.  I'm not a QGIS developer but I've
been trying to clarify an idea a few folks started a couple years back.
Specifically, establishing a standard way of doing high quality,
vector/raster output which would do pretty much what you are describing.

Standing back as a user, I think many projects have this challenge and
could work together if the approach was abstracted and some common
underlying tools agreed on or tested.

Without writing it all out, my thoughts are here and might be
interesting to you.  Dane's work on Quantumnik are encouraging and, in
my little world, are pushing the envelope of what's described here too:

http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Cartographic_Library  See the first two
sections for clarity.  The rest is a brainstorm that's not well organised.



Milo van der Linden wrote:
> Hello People!
> I have a question.
> 
> This summer I met someone of use-it http://www.use-it.be/ belgium at the
> OpenStreetMap State of the Map.
> 
> Use-IT creates free paper maps for youth-hostels targeting a specific
> audience. Currently they are using the tool chain:
> OpenStreetMap website -> export svg -> import in Illustrator -> lots and
> lots of manual labour and finally produce eye candy like this:
> http://www.use-it.be/_files/inlineuploads/pages/MAP_O_Brussels.pdf
> 
> Recently, the contact reached out to me. He could not find a solution within
> the OpenStreetMap community or it's related technology partners. Now I am
> helping him out looking at new ways to speed up their labour process.
> 
> I am investigating the qGIS pdf export and it looks promising in combination
> with the OpenStreetMap plugin but texts come out as letter-outlines instead
> of fonts and the PDF layers structure is hard to work with. I would like to
> know if the developers of the layouter/export would be interested in about 2
> weeks of work to enhance the layout manager to something that creates pdf
> that is perfectly fit for post-processing.
> 
> *****************1. PROCESSING PROBLEM*
>  This remains almost impossible - only supercomputers are able to
>  deliver an svg-file of a city of reasonable size, and even that is
>  still only a 50% shot. It took us a full night to render a city, and
>  were able to get there only with one of about ten available
>  xml-rulesheets (called z12). How could this be tackled?
> 
> This one is tackled with the OSM plugin in combination with the PDF export.
> As far as I can see, the way osm data is presented in qGIS is simplified,
> but this is good! We don't need shading, outlines and a whole lot of fencies
> in this fase. The eye-candy will be created in Illustrator. So, as far as I
> can see; qGIS tackles this issue.
> 
> *****************2. LAYER PROBLEM*
>  The svg does not contain separate layers with a clear content (like
>  'parks', 'roads', 'rivers'). Only the layers 'Map' and 'Map
>  Decoration' appear, but all the information is thrown together in
>  the layer 'Map'. You say it's a matter of someone finding the time
>  to improve this - but who is the best person to address?
> 
> In the OpenStreetMap data format, there are basically 3 layers: points,
> lines and polygons. The "real" layering is organised in attributes called
> tags. To be more generic; It would be good to push elements to a pdf layer
> based upon grouping by attribute. In case of openstreetmap data, it would
> mean applying some rules to strip out the tags into the required attributes
> and then in the layout manager tell the pdf export to "group by attribute
> column A"
> 
> 
> *****************3. TYPOGRAPHICAL PROBLEM*
>  Layouters prefer to work with Adobe Illustrator to make maps. It's
>  what they know best, and Inkscape is just not as good yet.
>  Osmarender renders svg files. It is possible to open an svg-file in
>  Illustrator, but then you get typographical problems, illustrated
>  below. Our question: could Osmarender be made to deliver an eps-file
>  (always works in Inkscape AND Illustrator) instead of an svg?
> 
>  This is what happened to a small part of Antwerp (Belgium):
> 
>  SVG IN INKSCAPE
>   > opens fine
>   > text is fully editable
>   > see image 'svg_inkscape'
> 
>  SVG IN ILLUSTRATOR
>   > opens upside down and with mistakes
>   > text is still editable as text (so it's not flattened), but does
>  not appear on a horizontal path in the street. Furthermore, every
>  letter is on a different path, so it's impossible to select an
>  entire word.
>   > see images 'svg_illustrator' and 'svg_illustrator_detail'
> 
>  SVG SAVED AS EPS IN INKSCAPE AND THEN OPENED IN ILLUSTRATOR
>   > opens fine
>   > text is flattened and not editable anymore, and therefore useless
>  for layout
>   > see images 'eps_illustrator' and 'eps_illustrator_detail'
> 
> **************
> Again; as far as I can see, it is qGIS to the rescue! The whole process of
> going from svg through inkscape to Adobe Illustrator is greatly smartened by
> using PDF export instead. Only one thing is needed here: to export fonts as
> text and not as letter contours. Horizontal text would be excelent. In that
> way, the designers can throw away what they do not need and use Illustrators
> smart tools to make text follow lines and so on.
> 
> Now, what I would like to know (my contact has some funds to spend on this
> topic):
> 
> - Who can I address with my enhancement questions?
> - Who would be willing to spend about 40 hours on this and at what rate?
> - Would this fit the roadmap of qGIS development?
> - Would others like to join up and provide extra funding for this?
> 
> I am curious to see what responses will be coming!
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Milo van der Linden
> +31616598808