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Questions tagged [openstreetmap]

OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. The data is free, and free of legal and technical restrictions. OpenStreetMap is often shortened to OSM.

OpenStreetMap is a free, editable map of the whole world. Unlike proprietary datasets like Google Map Maker, the OpenStreetMap license allows free access to the full map dataset. This massive amount of data can be downloaded in full, but also is available in immediately-useful forms like maps and commercial services.

The main way that users participate in OpenStreetMap is by editing the map. With a free user account, you can make improvements to the map that fix issues and add data for everyone. Some users take GPS units on walks, drives, or cycling trips to record tracks that can then be imported to OpenStreetMap. Others help out by tracing roads and features they find in satellite imagery into the map.

OpenStreetMap's funding and infrastructure is supported by the non-profit OpenStreetMap Foundation. While it doesn't maintain ownership of the dataset or control of the project, the foundation encourages the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial data for anybody to use and share.

If you already have an OSM account it is recommended to ask your question at help.openstreetmap.org where you will find a much larger OSM community.

Further Reading

  1. OpenStreetMap Wiki
  2. The Map
  3. Instructions for switching to OSM
  4. OSM Q&A community
  5. Mailing lists
  6. Official forum
  7. OSM Foundation
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Downloading OpenStreetMap Data

Is there a straightforward way to download data from OpenStreetMap (OSM)? Using North America as an example, I realize Cloudmade (Cloudmade no longer provides downloads of OSM) and Geofabrik (http://download.geofabrik.de/osm/north-america/) both…
djq
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What GIS application can open and use .osm files?

A quick question that I don't see an answer to elsewhere: if I download a .osm dataset from Planet.osm (for example) which GIS applications could consume/display this data without translation? For example, this page says ArcGIS 10 "can use…
Mark Ireland
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Are OSM ids unique over all Object types?

Are OSM IDs unique over all Object types? Meaning, can a way-ID occur as a relation-ID or a node-ID as a way-ID?
wutzebaer
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Creating a custom OpenStreetMap tile server

I'd like to create a map tile server based on the entire OSM planet database for a project I'm working on. I've worked with a couple of guides to try getting something up and running, but haven't found too many comprehensive resources that walk…
colemanm
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Processing raw OSM data for OpenStreetMap.org

Can anyone provide insight into how OSM data is processed or rendered for www.openstreetmap.org? A specific example is that I extracted data from a recent planet.osm PostGIS dataset for an area in Missouri. The OSM data needs a lot of cleaning…
tomfumb
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Is there a way to retrieve all cities in the world from OpenStreetMap?

I have tried to retrieve them from the api with the following: wget -O allcities.xml "http://www.overpass-api.de/api/xapi_meta?node[admin_level=8]" however it does not seem to return all of them. From the doc Admin Level 8 should be cities, towns…
birkett
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Extracting primary and secondary roads from OpenStreetMap data

After importing my country roads from OSM data, I need to create a network ( roads connecting big cities ) for use with pgRouting. For this, I need the green, blue and red ones (http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=11/-29.8582/-51.5238) but I'm unsure…
Magno C
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Adding a ruler to the OpenStreetMap site?

As a cyclist, I often need to measure the distance between two locations to have a rough idea. The OSM website contains no ruler, and I was wondering if there were a way to add one, or if a similar site exists that does have one.
Gulbahar
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Openstreetmap of a specific city of USA

I want to get the osm of a specific city of USA. I can only get the whole state now. But how can I get the osm data for a specific city.
user31820
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What is the highest possible value of OSM_ID?

What is currently the highest value of OSM_ID in openstreetmapping? What is the highest possible value of OSM_ID? 2^31 (2.147.483.648)? And here I add some more text or my question is rejected because it is too short...
Uffe Kousgaard
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Why do I have gaps in OSM data?

I just starting to work with raw-OSM data, so maybe my question is a very basic one. When I download OSM data from Geofabrik I never get the same coverage of the polygons as in the rendered raster OSM data - at least for many areas. In the…
Tim
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Download only country and city data from OSM

I want to download a list of all countries on this planet from OSM. Also, for selected countries, I would like to have states and cities. How can this easily be achieved? There must be an easier way that to download the whole planet and iterate…
Michael Junk
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osmfilter filter for nodes and find the related/nearest street to every node

I'm successfully managed to filter all nodes of a specific type by using osmfilter: osmfilter austria.o5m --keep="highway=speed_camera" Now I have got a lot of nodes like this:
miho
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Getting lane data from OSM

I want to extract road network data from OSM for a small city. From where can I get the lane information of any road in OSM. I tried exporting the data in the OSM XML format and there was no lane fields in that file.
Sibi
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Why is Yellowstone so empty on OpenStreetMap?

I stumbled upon the map of Yellowstone National Park on OpenStreetMap: Is there a particular reason for this map to be so strange? the borders of the park cut off the "forest" marking, right through the borders the inside of the national park is…
WoJ
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