Extract text from OpenStreetMap files (OSM)
To convert OSM map files to another format, you need JOSM or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "Map Data File" file type, you need software like JOSM or a similar tool.
The .OSM file is an OpenStreetMap Map Data file stored in a plain-text XML format. It contains structured geographical data, including nodes (points), ways (lines and boundaries), and relations (complex groupings). Users rely on these files to map roads, buildings, and points of interest globally. To edit or view the file properly, you need specialized GIS (Geographic Information System) software like JOSM or QGIS. You can learn more about the project on Wikipedia.
The main disadvantage of the .OSM format is its massive file size. Because it uses uncompressed XML code, exporting even a small city produces a file of hundreds of megabytes. Furthermore, standard image viewers and web browsers cannot display .OSM files as a visual map; they will only show thousands of lines of raw text code. Consumer apps also refuse to open these files directly.
To make the data useful, users frequently convert .OSM files to GeoJSON or SHP (Shapefile) for spatial analysis, or to KML for viewing in Google Earth. To fix the extreme file size issue, users convert .OSM to PBF (Protocolbuffer Binary Format), a highly compressed alternative. Be aware that converting raw geographic coordinates to a visual image format like PNG or SVG requires a complex rendering engine, and the underlying metadata tags will be lost.
Because accurately rendering mapping data requires complex cartographic rules and projection mathematics, many standard online tools fail to convert .OSM files.
Convert.Guru analyzes your OSM file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PBF, OMS, MAP, XML, KML, MBTILES, ZIP, OSC, JPG, GEOJSON, MO3, PDF and TXT files.
If you want to convert OSM file to DWG, OBJ, GEOJSON, KML, DXF, PDF, PNG, SVG, PBF, SHP, KMZ or GPX, you can use JOSM or similar software from the "Geographical map data storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert LAZ, KMZ, DTM, CSV, DEM, PRJ, LAS, GPX, DSM, SHP, DBF or KML files to OSM, try JOSM or another comparable tool in the "Geographical map data storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our OSM converter.