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I am searching for a way to download only high-level info (big cities, highways, major rivers, big lakes) of a large area (several countries). I would like to create some kind of basemap that I can use from within an airplane (as a passenger... :-) ), so I can identify large cities, highway intersections, rivers, lakes, as we fly over them. Target platform is Android (Locus Map), and I am familiar with downloading smaller areas and converting the .osm.xml format into maps, using osmosis. I want to prevent having to download several gigabytes with lowest level of detail information, to end up using only a fraction of the information. Is it possible to specify the level of detail that you are interested in (like some kind of zoom level). Or are these maps readily available (as are maps for most countries). My area of interest is Western Europe (or in large blocks, like Northern West Europe, Southern West Europe...)

asked 30 Mar '18, 15:53

bgeenen's gravatar image

bgeenen
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accept rate: 0%


Some filtering can be done with Overpass but you'll probably stretch its limits. Also, remember that filtering isn't the only thing you will want; even if you manage to filter out only motorways, they will be hugely detailed and consist of tons of pieces with a very fine geometry, much too fine for your use case. Downloading the full Europe file and working on it yourself, likely with the help of a database, might be unavoidable.

I think that your best bet might be to skip OpenStreetMap altogether and see if you can use the data from naturalearthdata.com - much less detail but perhpas that's just what you need!

Another avenue worth pursuing could be that of "vector tiles" where you would only download e.g. zoom 8 vector tiles or so. There's readily available libraries for vector tile rendering on mobile so maybe that's an option; you'll be limited to what the vector tile provider has chosen to appear on a certain zoom level of course.

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answered 30 Mar '18, 16:59

Frederik%20Ramm's gravatar image

Frederik Ramm ♦
82.5k927201273
accept rate: 23%

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question asked: 30 Mar '18, 15:53

question was seen: 2,536 times

last updated: 30 Mar '18, 16:59

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum