{"id":17326,"date":"2018-04-30T20:42:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T01:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gisgeography.com\/?p=17326"},"modified":"2025-04-03T16:49:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T21:49:34","slug":"openstreetmap-download-osm-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/openstreetmap-download-osm-data\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Download OpenStreetMap Data (OSM)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"OpenStreetMap<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

What is OpenStreetMap (OSM)?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

OpenStreetMap is like the Wikipedia of maps<\/strong>. It\u2019s the largest community of mappers in the world who constantly edit the geography of our changing planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, the problem with Google Maps data is that it’s proprietary and extremely difficult to obtain. And often other types of detailed data come at great costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we needed something open for the world to edit. And that solution is OpenStreetMap which motivated contributors to edit this “open map” daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As “open” is the key philosophy to OpenStreetMap, this is also true for data being \u201copen\u201d. So here are instructions on how you can download OSM data<\/strong> (of course at no cost).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 10 Free GIS Data Sources: Best Global Raster and Vector Datasets<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

How to Download OpenStreetMap Data? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

OpenStreetMap<\/a> is the data set you need that you didn\u2019t know existed for public consumption. It has some of the most detailed information on our planet and is always updated by people like you and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out, that there are several ways to download OpenStreetMap data. Conveniently, there\u2019s even an OSM Data Wikipedia page<\/a> with all the available OSM extracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"OpenStreetMap<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My suggestion is Geofabrik<\/a> because it’s organized by continent, country, and then province or state. Simply, navigate to your geographic area of choice and download OSM data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I also prefer downloading OSM data as shapefiles. This way, you can open it in QGIS or ArcGIS<\/a>… or any GIS software.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

What types of features are in OSM Data?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After you download OpenStreetMap data, its format is in points, polylines, and polygons<\/a>. For polylines, there are roads, railways, and waterways. Most importantly, it often has the name of the motorway, railway, or river. If the water feature is large enough, there is a polygon shapefile on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building footprints are notably impressive. For example, the OSM community has digitized close to 2 million features<\/strong> for infrastructure footprints in the state of New York. Each one may or may not have a building name and land type (commercial, industrial, education, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"OpenStreetMap<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a summary of OpenStreetMap data types:<\/p>\n\n\n\n