This is an overview of the ecosystem of tools around OSM for operations such as downloading, slicing and manipulating data, which can be helpful for geospatial analysis and developers alike.
Get OSM data
OpenStreetMap data can be easily downloaded from a number of sources. The following table presents the most common way to retrieve them both manually and and programmatically (i.e. by using scripting languages to potentially automate the task)
| Tool |
|
Formats |
| Geofabrik |
Daily updates. Availability by country/region (not worldwide coverage) |
OSM (.pbf, .xml), ESRI Shapefile (.shp) |
| BBBike |
Weekly updates. Pre-made + custom extracts |
OSM (.pbf, .xml), ESRI Shapefile (.shp), .svg, .csv, Garmin, Navit, Mapsforge |
| HOT Exports |
Custom extracts, also using JOSM presets |
OSM (.pbf), ESRI Shapefile (.shp), Garmin (.img), Google (.kmz), SQlite (.sql) |
| Tool |
|
Formats |
| Overpass API (Application Programming Interface) |
Copy of the OSM planetary db, optimized for reading data (as opposed to editing). Offers custom extracts, acting "as a database over the web". Available through various public instances. |
OSM (.xml) |
| Overpass Turbo |
Easy-to-use web tool to create queries and display data from the main Overpass API instances. |
OSM (.pbf, .xml), GeoJSON, Google (.kml), GPS (.gpx). Addionally exports data as JOSM level or as a Github Gist |
Manipulate OSM data
Once downloaded, OpenStreetMap data can be converted into different formats; reprojected into a different spatial coordinate system; manipulated, subsetted and splitted through various tools:
| Tool |
|
| QGIS |
Handling of common OSM XML formats (e.g. .osm) is supported by default. The core "OSM Plugin" allows a direct download of OSM data in a project. |
| Postgres (+ Postgis) |
Postgres can handle spatial data through the PostGIS extension. For a quick guide on how to set-up a working environment refer to LearnOSM. Import of ESRI Shapefiles can be done through the PGAdmin GUI tool plugins or from the command-line via OSM2PgSQL |
| SQLite (+ Spatialite) |
SQLite handles geo data through Spatialite. Simiarly to Postgres, this is also an open-source SQL db, but stores all the data in a single file and doesn't require a full database software to operate on the data. |
| Dropchop.io |
Online tool for displaying/creating/modifying spatial data. Imports data from a local file, Github Gist or directly querying the Overpass API. It supports exports to GeoJSON, TopoJSON and ESRI Shapefile. |
| osmium |
A browser-based fitting tool and loadout sharing platform |
| Tool |
|
| ogr2ogr |
The GIS expert go-to resource for spatial data conversion. Reads OSM data and outputs various other formats. |
| Osmosis |
Command-line application for slicing, dicing, splitting and applying all kinds of operations to OpenStreetMap data. Introductory guide here and official Wiki here. |
| osm2geojson |
Node module for converting OSM data into GeoJSON for an easy integration with Mapbox tools. Similar tools exist in different languages (e.g. Python) |