Collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenStreetMap</span>

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OpenStreetMap

<p><b>OpenStreetMap</b> (<b>OSM</b>) is a free, open <a href="/en/Geographic_database" title="Geographic database" class="mw-redirect wl">geographic database</a> updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via <a href="/en/Open_collaboration" title="Open collaboration" class="wl">open collaboration</a>. Contributors collect data from <a href="/en/Surveying" title="Surveying" class="wl">surveys</a>, trace from <a href="/en/Aerial_imagery" title="Aerial imagery" class="mw-redirect wl">aerial imagery</a> and also import from other freely licensed <a href="/en/Geodata" title="Geodata" class="mw-redirect wl">geodata</a> sources. OpenStreetMap is <a href="/en/Free_content" title="Free content" class="wl">freely licensed</a> under the <a href="/en/Open_Database_License" title="Open Database License" class="wl">Open Database License</a> and as a result commonly used to make electronic <a href="/en/Map" title="Map" class="wl">maps</a>, inform <a href="/en/Turn-by-turn_navigation" title="Turn-by-turn navigation" class="wl">turn-by-turn navigation</a>, assist in <a href="/en/Humanitarian_aid" title="Humanitarian aid" class="wl">humanitarian aid</a> and <a href="/en/Data_and_information_visualization" title="Data and information visualization" class="wl">data visualisation</a>. OpenStreetMap uses its own topology to store <a href="/en/Geographical_feature" title="Geographical feature" class="wl">geographical features</a> which can then be exported into other <a href="/en/GIS_file_formats" title="GIS file formats" class="mw-redirect wl">GIS file formats</a>. The OpenStreetMap website itself is an <a href="/en/Web_mapping" title="Web mapping" class="wl">online map</a>, geodata <a href="/en/Search_engine" title="Search engine" class="wl">search engine</a> and editor.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Available&nbsp;in, Country of origin, Owner, ...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vcard mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title fn org">OpenStreetMap</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span><a href="/en/File:Openstreetmap_logo.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Openstreetmap_logo.svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Openstreetmap_logo.svg/150px-Openstreetmap_logo.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="256" data-file-height="256" data-file-type="drawing" height="150" width="150" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Openstreetmap_logo.svg/225px-Openstreetmap_logo.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Openstreetmap_logo.svg/300px-Openstreetmap_logo.svg.png 2x" alt="Openstreetmap_logo.svg"></a></span></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-image-border"><a href="/en/File:OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png"><img loading="lazy" alt="OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png/240px-OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="2880" data-file-height="1800" data-file-type="bitmap" height="150" width="240" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png/360px-OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png/480px-OpenStreetMap_homepage_2020_en.png 2x"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">OpenStreetMap homepage, showing the <a href="/en/World_map" title="World map" class="wl">world map</a></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Available<span>&nbsp;</span>in</th><td class="infobox-data">96 languages and variants,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-github-locales_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-github-locales-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> local languages for map data</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Country of origin</th><td class="infobox-data">United Kingdom</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Owner</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/OpenStreetMap_Foundation" title="OpenStreetMap Foundation" class="wl">OpenStreetMap Foundation</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Created<span>&nbsp;</span>by</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Steve_Coast" title="Steve Coast" class="wl">Steve Coast</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Product_(business)" title="Product (business)" class="wl">Products</a></th><td class="infobox-data">Editable <a href="/en/Geographic_data_and_information" title="Geographic data and information" class="wl">geographic data</a>, <a href="/en/Tiled_web_map" title="Tiled web map" class="wl">tiled web map</a> layer</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">URL</th><td class="infobox-data url"><span class="url"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/" class="external text" target="_blank">www<wbr>.openstreetmap<wbr>.org</a></span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Commercial</th><td class="infobox-data">No</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Registration</th><td class="infobox-data">Required for contributors, not required for viewing</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Registered_user" title="Registered user" class="wl">Users</a></th><td class="infobox-data">10 million<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Launched</th><td class="infobox-data">9<span>&nbsp;</span>August 2004<span class="noprint"><span>;</span><span> </span>18 years ago</span><span style="display:none"><span>&nbsp;</span>(<span class="bday dtstart published updated">2004-08-09</span>)</span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Current<span>&nbsp;</span>status</th><td class="infobox-data category">Active</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Content license</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Open_Database_License" title="Open Database License" class="wl">Open Database License</a></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>

<p>In 2004, OpenStreetMap was created by <a href="/en/Steve_Coast" title="Steve Coast" class="wl">Steve Coast</a> in response to the <a href="/en/Ordnance_Survey" title="Ordnance Survey" class="wl">Ordnance Survey</a>, the United Kingdom's national mapping agency, failing to release its data to the public and under free licences. Initially, maps were created only via <a href="/en/GPS_tracking_unit" title="GPS tracking unit" class="wl">GPS traces</a>, but it was quickly populated by importing <a href="/en/Public_domain" title="Public domain" class="wl">public domain</a> geographical data such as the U.S. <a href="/en/Topologically_Integrated_Geographic_Encoding_and_Referencing" title="Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing" class="wl">TIGER</a> and tracing permitted <a href="/en/Aerial_photography" title="Aerial photography" class="wl">aerial photography</a>. OpenStreetMap's adoption was accelerated by <a href="/en/Google_Maps" title="Google Maps" class="wl">Google Maps</a>'s introduction of pricing in 2012 and the development of supporting software and applications. The database is hosted by the <a href="/en/OpenStreetMap_Foundation" title="OpenStreetMap Foundation" class="wl">OpenStreetMap Foundation</a>, a non-profit organisation registered in <a href="/en/England_and_Wales" title="England and Wales" class="wl">England and Wales</a> and is funded mostly via donations.</p>



OpenStreetMap is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed geodata sources. OpenStreetMap is freely licensed under the Open Database License and as a result commonly used to make electronic maps, inform turn-by-turn navigation, assist in humanitarian aid and data visualisation. OpenStreetMap uses its own topology to store geographical features which can then be exported into other GIS file formats. The OpenStreetMap website itself is an online map, geodata search engine and editor. In 2004, OpenStreetMap was created by Steve Coast in response to the Ordnance Survey, the United Kingdom's national mapping agency, failing to release its data to the public and under free licences. Initially, maps were created only via GPS traces, but it was quickly populated by importing public domain geographical data such as the U.S. TIGER and tracing permitted aerial photography. OpenStreetMap's adoption was accelerated by Google Maps's introduction of pricing in 2012 and the development of supporting software and applications. The database is hosted by the OpenStreetMap Foundation, a non-profit organisation registered in England and Wales and is funded mostly via donations. 