FAQ

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We've done our best to compile a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions.
They are broken up by category and listed below.

Downloads

What files do you offer for download?

Name	Compressed Extension	Native Extension	Description	More information
OSM XML	.bz2	.osm, .osm.administrative, .osm.coastline, .osm.highway	OSM XML files are the native format used by the OpenStreetMap API and also by many OpenStreetMap applications. Use OSM XML if you want to load the files into an application like JOSM, or if you want to convert to other formats using a library such as osm-lib. In addition to full osm extracts there are partial feature extracts which contain administrative boundaries, coastlines or highways only.	To find out more about OSM XML, take a look at the OSM Protocol page on OpenStreetMap's wiki.
Garmin Map Files – OSM err edition	.zip	.img	The Garmin Map Files (OSM err edition) are maps that can be loaded onto many Garmin GPS units and used to assist mapping for OpenStreetMap. The files highlight features that are likely to be incorrect, such as roads with no name, which are highlighted in red. The files are created using the Mkgmap utility.	To find out more about Garmin Map Files, take a look at the Mkgmap project home page.
Osmosis Country bounding polygon	NA	.poly	Osmosis country bounding polygons are files which contain an approximate bounding box for each of the countries supported by downloads.cloudmade.com. They can be used with the Osmosis tool to extract specific bounding boxes of data from OSM XML format files.	To find out more about Osmosis country bounding polygons, take a look at the Osmosis project page on the OpenStreetMap wiki.
Shapefiles	.zip	.shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj	Shapefiles are a data exchange format created by ESRI which are one of the most widely used geodata formats. When we talk about a “shapefile” we are usually talking about four different files – .shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj. First three files must all be present in order to use the data. Each shapefile can hold only one geometry type. The projection information contained in the .prj file is critical in order to understand the data contained in the .shp file correctly. Our files are split into several categories – highway, which contains features like roads and footpaths, natural, which contains area features like parks and forests, poi (point of interest), which contains point features like amenities and tourist attractions, administrative boundaries and finally coastlines and water bodies. Because shapefiles are widely used they can be combined with other geodata and used inside GIS (Geographic Information Systems), such as the open source QGIS application.	To find out more about shapefiles, take a look at the Wikipedia article. To find out more about GIS software take a look at this Wikipedia article.
Navit files	.zip	.bin	Navit navigable files contain road and POI data and can be used with Navit navigation software. Navit is an open source (GPL) car navigation software for Linux systems that is much like other in-car navigation software.	To find out more about navit project, take a look at Navit website.
GPX POI files	.zip	.gpx	OSM Points of Interest in GPX format. GPX (the GPS Exchange Format) is a light-weight XML data format for the interchange of GPS data between applications and Web services on the Internet.	To find out more about GPX format take a look at GPX page in Wikipedia or Official GPX website.
TomTom POI files	.zip	.ov2	OSM Points of Interest in TomTom POI format – Point of Interest database for TomTom navigators.	To find out how to use TomTom POI databases take a look at correspondent page on gps-data-team forum
Adobe Illustrator Files	.zip	.ai	Adobe Illustrator Artwork (AI) is a proprietary file format for representing single-page vector-based drawings in either the EPS or PDF formats. The .ai filename extension is used by Adobe Illustrator.	To see which programs support .ai files please take a look at this page.

I don't know which file I want!

The .osm.bz2 are extract files which contain all the OpenStreetMap data for the country or state, and are the building blocks for many different applications. The OpenStreetMap XML format is described on the OpenStreetMap wiki. The Garmin .img files can be previewed on your computer (see below) but are most useful if you own a Garmin GPS unit that can display add-on maps.

What is the .poly file for?

The .poly file fully describes the area that we use to generate both the extracts and the Garmin files, and is used by Osmosis with the —bounding-polygon parameter.

How do I preview the .img on my computer?

Img files are for Garmin devices only, but you can preview the *.img files with MapSource using this tutorial.

How do I transfer the .img file to my Garmin GPS?

This is easiest where your GPS unit can be put into “USB mass storage” mode, or where you are using a removable micro-SD card. In both cases the .img file needs to be renamed to 'gmapsupp.img' and put in the 'Garmin' subfolder. If you can't access the GPS memory like this, then sendMap can be downloaded from cGPSmapper and can transfer .img files over both serial and usb connections.

The Garmin maps look a bit funny. Why?

The .img files from downloads.cloudmade.com are our “OpenStreetMap Error Edition”. These are intended to help OSM volunteers when they are out mapping, and so highlight roads that are missing names and other features that may be of interest only to mappers. If you're not helping out with OSM then it may look a little confusing!

I've downloaded the extract and I want an even smaller area.

You'll want to investigate Osmosis further – it's what we use to make the extracts in the first place, and you can use it to extract even smaller areas such as towns or suburbs that you are interested in.

How do I turn the extract into a rendered map of my area?

Rendering maps from our downloads is possible, but quite difficult. It’s far easier to use one of our services like the Style Editor along with Web Maps Studio or the iPhone SDK. Let us do the hard work!

What can I do if a file format I am interested in isn't available for download?

If you want to request a file format send us an email or ask on the developers' mailing list.

What projection and coordinate system are the Shapefile downloads in?

The Shapefiles hosted at downloads.cloudmade.com are in the WGS84 co-ordinate system using latitude and longitude. After downloading the files, you can use a GIS to re-projected them to fit local co-ordinate systems such as OSGB36 in the UK or NAD in the United States.

When do you update your downloads?

We update our downloads on a monthly basis based from OpenStreetMap data. Our downloads pages always state the date of the OpenStreetMap data that was used to create the downloads.

With what device can I use your Garmin .img files?

We do expect them to work on all Garmin models which have colour map displays.

How can I join the files to unzip them (e.g. USA extract)?

To join files you can use copy command in command line in following way:
copy usa.osm.bz2.part.00 /b + usa.osm.bz2.part.01 /b usa.osm.bz2 /b

Still looking for an answer?

If you have a question that is not listed here or need further assistance,
please, contact us via e-mail: support@cloudmade.com