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I have coordinates and wrote a program to create a VIK file to display them. I am looking for another (open-source) tool that loads coordinates from a text file I can create and display them on OSM maps.

Now I use Viking to display some points and I want to print a OSM map from that. But the problem is that the text of the points is set automatically and some points are close by and the text overlaps. Since it does not seem to be solvable with Viking, I am looking for another tool to display my GPS points.

Viking Screenshot

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    The final result you want is a PNG image? Or a hosted slippy map? Can you transform your file to something more common like GPX/OSM/KML?
    – Nicolas Raoul ♦
    Mar 16, 2015 at 7:05
  • PNG would be fine. I can transform my text file to another format.
    – juergen d
    Mar 17, 2015 at 10:25
  • @juergend Could you provide us with a few sample records of such text input file?
    – mguassa
    Jun 20, 2015 at 17:03

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I'm quite interested in the subject and I'll show you how I might have resolved your problem. Following your comment, your main requirement is clearer now: essentially you'd like to display a point for each coordinate and its relative label, without having overlapping labels (i.e. you need the ability to move the labels around manually or let the program do that for you automatically).

Try GpsPrune: it's able to move the label around the point automatically so that it doesn't overlap with other labels. I'd say the result is acceptable most of the times.

First of all, what is GpsPrune?

GpsPrune is an application for viewing, editing and converting coordinate data from GPS systems.

It can load data from arbitrary text-based formats (for example, any tab-separated or comma-separated file) or Xml, or directly from a GPS receiver. It can display the data (as map view using openstreetmap images and as altitude profile), edit this data (for example delete points and ranges, sort waypoints, compress tracks), and save the data (in various text-based formats). It can also export data as a Gpx file, or as Kml/Kmz for import into Google Earth, or send it to a GPS receiver.

It is open source (see the GpsPrune download page) and it is written in Java, so it should run on any major desktop OS (I run it on Ubuntu).

Since I don't have your input file, I've tested it with a random CSV file I found on the internet containing (close) coordinates for some kind of fishing spots on a lake. This is a subset of that file, each record made of an ID (the label), the latitude and the longitude:

196, 31.600763, -97.243546
197, 31.600828, -97.243648
198, 31.600843, -97.2439
199, 31.600898, -97.244036
200, 31.601078, -97.244414
201, 31.601064, -97.24462

I've loaded the file (File -> Open file) and simply configured the input according to my case:

GpsPrune CSV setup 1 GpsPrune CSV setup 2

In the end, this is the result:

GpsPrune map 1

By zooming out you can see the labels moving in a way that don't overlap with each other:

GpsPrune map 2 GpsPrune map 3

Obviously you'll reach a level when the data displayed becomes unclear and poorly readable, but that's something you can't avoid.

The map is from OpenStreetMap and it's shown/downloaded automatically if enabled. The map can be zoomed and panned, you can export as KML, GPX, POV, SVG, image.

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  • Can I move the point names? That is the actual issue of my question. I do not want overlapping names of points close by.
    – juergen d
    Jun 20, 2015 at 22:50
  • @juergend I thought you didn't want to display the text at all. I don't see a way to move the point names manually, but it seems that the text for each point changes its position automatically depending on the level of zoom, without overlapping; maybe it's something that can help your situation. Give it a go, otherwise let me have (a subset of) the input file you used to generate the map in your question and I can try it by myself - at least I'd have a good test case.
    – mguassa
    Jun 21, 2015 at 10:32
  • @juergend I've edited my answer following the clarification of your requirement in your comment.
    – mguassa
    Jun 24, 2015 at 10:21
  • @juergend: Please make the non-overlapping requirement clearer in your question, and even in the question title, as it is the most challenging requirement. Thanks!
    – Nicolas Raoul ♦
    Mar 3, 2017 at 12:04

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