Topic on Talk:Wikimedia Maps/2015-2017/Conversation about interactive map use

Where might conflict arise in map detail, style, or other functions?

How to differentiate when one is displaying a geographic area vs displaying a point of interest; for example how will the styling differs when the subject is about city (showing boundaries?) vs about a monument (showing a point?)

The "base map" could be the same for both usages. The city boundary or a POI marker (point of interest) will be drawn on top of the base map style. The main issue is if two different base maps are needed for different types of articles - like street map vs landscape map.

Different styles will be necessary in some cases. Basic political maps (ie boundaries only), relief maps and street maps have obviously different uses as base maps, no matter what is built onto them. The general convention is human geography - political/street map and physical geography - relief map.

Within those very broad categories, different subjects may still need different maps styles.

For example in England, the administrative geography is Region -> County -> District -> Civil Parish. However, the electoral geography has multiple variants: County -> Constituency -> Ward; County -> District -> Ward; County -> Electoral Division -> Ward. That's 4 different approaches needed within England for zooming.

While the administrative geography is the most useful general purpose one, when the electoral boundaries are needed admin boundaries are irrelevant.

A specific issue which may cause different requirements in different region is the display of roads. The typical global conventions are use red and/or yellow for important routes.

But in some regions other colour schemes are prevalent. For instance - The UK and Ireland use blue and green for the most important categories, and that choice is strongly engrained locally: It reflects the road signs, and most commonly used paper maps.