{
  "slug": "overpass-api",
  "name": "Overpass API",
  "aliases": [
    "Overpass QL",
    "Overpass turbo"
  ],
  "vendor": {
    "name": "Roland Olbricht and the OpenStreetMap community",
    "slug": "overpass-api",
    "website": "https://overpass-api.de"
  },
  "homepage_url": "https://overpass-api.de/",
  "docs_url": "https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Overpass_API",
  "repo_url": "https://github.com/drolbr/Overpass-API",
  "license_url": "https://github.com/drolbr/Overpass-API/blob/master/COPYING",
  "product_type": "api-service",
  "product_status": "active",
  "summary": "Read-only query service for OpenStreetMap data using the Overpass QL language, available on public instances or self-hosted",
  "description": "Overpass API is a read-only query engine for OpenStreetMap data written by Roland Olbricht and maintained with the OSM community. Clients send a query in Overpass QL (or an XML form) describing tags, areas, bounding boxes and relationships, and receive matching nodes, ways and relations as JSON or XML, optionally with geometry. Public instances such as overpass-api.de are updated within minutes of OSM edits and are free to use under fair-use limits, while the Overpass turbo web front end helps compose and visualise queries. The server software is AGPL-licensed and can be installed on your own hardware from planet extracts for unrestricted throughput. Query cost grows quickly with area and tag complexity, public servers apply timeouts and rate limits, and results carry the ODbL obligations of OSM data.",
  "capabilities": [
    "Filter OSM objects by tag, bounding box, area or proximity",
    "Recursion over relations and ways to assemble full geometries",
    "JSON and XML output with optional geometry",
    "Minute-level freshness on public instances",
    "Self-hostable server from planet files",
    "Overpass turbo for interactive query building"
  ],
  "workflows": [
    "Fetch all amenities within a radius of each property in a sample",
    "Download building footprints for a municipality into GeoPandas"
  ],
  "advantages": [
    "Free public access with current data",
    "Expressive query language",
    "Open-source server"
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Public instances impose timeouts and rate limits",
    "Large or complex queries are slow or rejected",
    "Not a bulk-download replacement for planet extracts"
  ],
  "prerequisites": [
    "HTTP client; Overpass QL knowledge"
  ],
  "audiences": [
    "Researchers extracting OSM features",
    "Developers prototyping map applications"
  ],
  "alternatives": [
    "openstreetmap",
    "geopandas",
    "postgis"
  ],
  "comparison_notes": "Downloading an OSM extract into PostGIS or GeoPandas suits repeated heavy analysis; Overpass is better for targeted, fresh, ad-hoc extraction without local infrastructure.",
  "categories": [
    {
      "slug": "gis-mapping",
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "slug": "open-public-data"
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "gis",
    "open-data",
    "api",
    "openstreetmap",
    "open-source"
  ],
  "use_cases": [
    "map-geodata"
  ],
  "operating_systems": [
    "any",
    "linux"
  ],
  "execution_modes": [
    "cloud",
    "self-hosted"
  ],
  "interfaces": [
    "api",
    "web"
  ],
  "deployment_models": [
    "saas",
    "on-premises"
  ],
  "integrations": [
    "OpenStreetMap",
    "Overpass turbo",
    "osmnx",
    "QGIS QuickOSM"
  ],
  "data_formats": [
    "JSON",
    "OSM XML",
    "CSV"
  ],
  "languages": [
    "C++"
  ],
  "source_model": "open-source",
  "license_spdx": "AGPL-3.0-only",
  "pricing_model": [
    "free",
    "open-source"
  ],
  "self_hostable": true,
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://overpass-api.de/",
      "type": "official_site",
      "supports": [
        "name",
        "summary"
      ],
      "checked_at": "2026-11-02",
      "title": "Overpass API"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Overpass_API",
      "type": "official_docs",
      "supports": [
        "capabilities",
        "limitations"
      ],
      "checked_at": "2026-11-02",
      "title": "Overpass API — OSM Wiki"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/drolbr/Overpass-API/blob/master/COPYING",
      "type": "license_page",
      "supports": [
        "license_spdx",
        "source_model"
      ],
      "checked_at": "2026-11-02",
      "title": "COPYING (AGPL v3)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://overpass-turbo.eu/",
      "type": "official_site",
      "supports": [
        "capabilities"
      ],
      "checked_at": "2026-11-02",
      "title": "Overpass turbo"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "depth": "standard",
  "featured": false,
  "discovery_method": "editorial-research",
  "editorial_status": "reviewed",
  "visibility": "public",
  "author": "batch-F"
}