unusable Illustrator in very basic actions

[sofia_4613]

hey! I just dowloaded the lates version of AI today (28.7.1), just a couple of minutes ago, and if I try to open a map downloaded from OpenStreetMap and do anything with it, the program stops working, the screen becomes faded and I cannot use it at all.

any ideas, what could be the problem?

the laptop is very new, got it last week, and in the shop the people trying to fix it said that the problem is with the software, maybe some updates, but they are not sure. 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @sofia_4613,

I am sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind trying the suggestions in this help article (https://adobe.ly/4dWskwW) and letting us know if they help?

If the problem persists, kindly share a public link to a sample file after uploading it to Dropbox/Google Drive/etc., and a screen recording of your workflow and the problem (https://adobe.ly/3MBZm9x), so we can investigate this further.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Bobby Henderson]

What kinds of hardware are in the notebook computer (type of CPU, amount of RAM, type of graphics accelerator board or chip set)?

[Monika Gause]

OpenStreetMap files can be quite complex, so this is not necessarily a very basic action.

[Jill327111991h1d]

Yes Monika you are totally right. The SVG files from open street map are terribly complex and huge. Do you have any recommendations for how to reduce the complexity of the SVG file in order to work with it in illustrator please? Thanks

[Monika Gause]

What do you want to do with it?

Does it help to delete stuff from it? Then you can use select > Same and get rid of objects you don't need.

The text is terribly complex, but the last time I tested it, all single letters were their own symbol. You could just delete them all.

[jill_confused&tryinghard]

Hi there. So sorry Monika I realise that I didn't respond to you how ungrateful of me. Basically I am wondering how to create those art maps that you see for sale on Etsy etc. I have investigated a few packages who offer easy maps but you end up with a jpeg or PNG which isn't editable. I did download and try to 'select same' and delete various objects but the whole file just scrolls for ages whenever I try to do anything at all. I guess there are programmers out there who can possibly limit the download in the first place from OSM but I have no idea as yet! Thanks again anyway. 

[Monika Gause]

I'm not sure what kind of maps you are referring to?

The ones that have only roads in them?

Usually the OSM maps are heavily structured. You only need to sort out the layers in the SVG (do not download PDF) and delete what you don't need. 

You know that you can't just seel those maps without a copyright notice in it?

[jill_confused&tryinghard]

Hi Monika - please see below for examples. I am not so worried about the copyright as just want to do my own for my own wall. Possibly do one for my Mum too! I do love maps though and challenges! Anyway, all of these seem to cover a large area which to start with poses challenges for both OSM and Illustrator - by the end, they have deleted a lot of the extra information that would have been downloaded from OSM (or wherever) but I don't seem to be able to get near that and I can't seem to select objects to delete as it takes so long scrolling ... And also I don't know how they manage to offer Custom Maps for any place as it takes SO LONG to work on just the one map! Anyway, sorry to dump all this on you! 

[Monika Gause]

Thank you, that is the one I was thinking.

As I said, OSM maps are heavily structured and in the SVG you should be able to select stuff by its appearance on top of that. Can you upload a sample of the kind of file you are working with? Does not need to be your real area, just a similar one.

[jill_confused&tryinghard]

Hi again. Ha - unfortunately I can't load it up as it's 164MB!! Maybe that's whay I am having problems ... ;-D