GIS is its own sea of tools and information that can be a bit overwhelming. If you want to do more, you will need to do what most professional and GIS bodies do and use more sophisticated GIS tools. The result of this is that you will get all sorts of tools encouraging the sharing and exporting of the Mapnik render (to cater for the demand to do so) but the heart of OSM still suggests you use the raw data via alternative means and render it yourself to your exact specification.īasically : If you want to do something incredibly simple with the map where aesthetics and usage aren't too extravagant, the basic Mapnik sharing and exporting tools may be enough. Although OSM was meant to be about a collection of data, not the map you see on the site, the general public's uses/actions/confusion over the Mapnik map pushed OSM into catering more to the Mapnik render as a service to the general public by adding export/routing options etc., albeit basic ones. The conflict is that the general public are fond of dictating what something is for themselves (see the concept of Desire Lines). It provides an obvious use and is also a demonstration of one way to interpret the data. The map you see when you visit (Mapnik, which you seem aware of) is just their own interpretation.
It's primarily meant to be a collection of geographic information (lines, points, labels) that you interpret as you want in whatever software you import it into. The reason for this is that OSM was not intended to be the map you see when you visit its site. As in, don't let the changes you make be dictated by how it will look in the Mapnik render, or other. It's hinted at (if you edit) by the plea not to edit for the renderer.
There's a bit of an existential conflict with OSM and its purpose as a utility.