As part of https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T153282 a new style for Wikimedia maps is being developed, and I've loaded up the whole planet on one of my test servers as a test and demo.
The demo is available at http://legolas.paulnorman.ca:6789/, and through "Compare" on the right-hand side of the interface you can compare it with the current Wikimedia style, OpenStreetMap Carto, and lots of others. Some other things to be aware of when comparing are
- The map is displayed with Kosmtik, a design tool with minimal caching, and it might be restarted while I'm working on it
- Even though the server is faster than production, it may appear slower because it doesn't have everything cached
- The OSM data on the server is normally within a day of the latest data
- Some roads are missing with https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T160781
Some of the more noticeable style changes are
- Road colours are different, helping view the overall layout of the city
- There are fewer cases of subtly different shades of green.
- Bridges and multi-level road constructions are now handled properly, which should make some areas easier to figure out
Feedback is welcome, either through email, phab tickets, or by IRC in #wikimedia-interactive on freenode.