Dear Debian GIS list members, I am a developer of Pure Maps (https://github.com/rinigus/pure-maps) and OSM Scout Server (https://github.com/rinigus/osmscout-server). The both applications were originally developed for Sailfish OS to cover our mapping needs (map view, geocoding, routing, online/offline), but have been ported now to Linux desktop (Qt Controls and Kirigami). Hence, I wonder whether someone would be interested in packaging these programs for Debian.
This maps stack is somewhat different from what's common on other mobile platforms. Out of them, Pure Maps is an application that shows maps, allows to search, route and perform other operations by querying different services. Pure Maps supports navigation, turn-by-turn instructions given on screen and using TTS (via mimic, flite, and picoTTS). The second application, OSM Scout Server, provides map tiles (vector and raster), search and route calculation services. As a result, any online maps client (Pure Maps, modRana, Gnome Maps), can obtain offline functionality with minimal effort (mainly have to adjust HTTP API calls, supported by Pure Maps and modRana) by accessing OSM Scout Server running at localhost. In addition, the server supports DBus for map matching. The server is built around Mapnik, libpostal, Valhalla, and libosmscout (older version, depricated backend for now). In offline mode, end users, when not downloading offline maps, are just interfacing map client software (Pure Maps or some other). OSM Scout Server is started automatically on the background via systemd socket activation and shutdown when not in use for some time. Such seamless integration works very well in practice and allows to have similar experience as all-in-one solution. The both applications are available at Flathub (no systemd socket activation for that version of the server). I wonder whether someone in this list would be interested in packaging these applications for Debian. I don't use Debian nor Debian-based distro for my PCs these days and would probably not be good maintainer for it as a result. However, I'll be happy to help and it shouldn't take too long if we work together with someone who has experience in Debian packaging. There is a significant list of libraries that would have to be packaged, but it should all be possible. We can get into the details if there is interest and discuss the libraries as well. Best wishes, Rinigus
