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I'm working with OpenJump GIS and I'd like to know if I can download area data into shape file format (.shp)

asked 14 Oct '11, 11:00

Koopa's gravatar image

Koopa
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edited 07 Nov '13, 18:34

aseerel4c26's gravatar image

aseerel4c26 ♦
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Four months or so ago I was able to export the data directly from the site to .shp and a few other formats. It was a separate option from "Export" and it was buried another level into another option. I think it may have been "Save As" or something similar. Now it appears they have removed the functionality. It is really a letdown because OSM format does not open directly in Arc as far as I can tell.

(07 Nov '13, 16:40) TylerDurden
1

You can still export data in OSM format by clicking on "Export Data" on the left-hand menu, or export an image by clicking the "Share" icon on the right-hand side.

However, you are mistaken: there has never been any option to export .shp format directly from openstreetmap.org.

(07 Nov '13, 17:52) Richard ♦

Richard, I don't want to say that I am 100% certain that I was able to export to SHP, but I will say that I am 100% certain that there was a separate option from Export which allowed me to save out the vector data in other formats besides OSM. I managed to get the data into Arc, and I have no other tool which could make that happen, and Arc does not read in OSM files. I have the file in SHP format right now but it is possible I exported it out into another vector format, brought it into Arc, then saved out a shape file. I really don't remember doing that though. How are you certain?

(07 Nov '13, 21:24) TylerDurden

Because I fairly frequently look at the site codebase and would have seen .shp code going in (or being removed again). The "other formats" available were SVG and PDF vector image files, which are now on the Share icon on the right.

(07 Nov '13, 22:32) Richard ♦

It is possible to download data and convert it, and some preconverted shape files are also mentioned on this wiki page, which has links to various different options you could try.

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answered 14 Oct '11, 11:20

EdLoach's gravatar image

EdLoach ♦
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Thank you this can be a part of the solution! Now I'm facing the fact that the shape files I'm using (from cloudmade) are not in the correct scale when I load them into OpenJump.

(14 Oct '11, 11:44) Koopa

I'm afraid I don't know OpenJump. The .prj files included with the .shp files should contain the necessary projection information for any GIS software that understands ESRI shapefiles to be able to open them correctly, though.

(14 Oct '11, 11:54) EdLoach ♦

There are ready-made shape files for some regions e.g. at downloads.cloudmade.com and download.geofabrik.de.

Note that shape files contain raw data and not maps; do not expect to open a shape file in OpenJUMP and see a pretty map. You will have to apply a lot of styling work to get something that looks remotely pretty.

Also note that shape files can never contain all of OSM data because they are limited to a few columns and don't have a free-form tagging schema like OSM has.

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answered 14 Oct '11, 12:46

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Frederik Ramm ♦
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question asked: 14 Oct '11, 11:00

question was seen: 7,578 times

last updated: 07 Nov '13, 22:32

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