OSM2CDR and schwarzplan.eu: a comparison by the numbers
schwarzplan.eu sells ready-made city plans prepared in advance; OSM2CDR builds a file for the chosen area at order time. Below are the figures from both sides and our own gaps. The schwarzplan.eu data was taken from its pages on 2026-10-14.
Checked on 2026-10-14. https://schwarzplan.eu/en/
| Criterion | OSM2CDR | schwarzplan.eu |
|---|---|---|
| Export formats | 140 in the catalogue, 137 served now | PDF, DXF, DWG; which ones a given plan includes is stated on its page |
| How the map is obtained | in the browser: a frame on the map or a place from the catalogue, the file is built on the server from our copy of OpenStreetMap; no program to install and no data to download beforehand | a catalogue of ready-made city plans: the plan is prepared in advance and, by their account, checked before publication; the download starts right after payment |
| Area ceiling per order | 5 km2 at maximum detail, 5000 km2 at city level, the whole planet at overview level | the bounds are those of the ready-made plan; the catalogue has no free-form frame |
| Data preparation | automatic build from OpenStreetMap, without manual editing | OpenStreetMap data which, according to their FAQ, is cleaned and reworked by hand: closed polygons, layers by feature type |
| CorelDRAW (CDR) | yes: CDR for CorelDRAW is one of the catalogue formats | not in the format list; the PDF opens in Illustrator and InDesign |
| Data licence | ODbL (OpenStreetMap) | based on OpenStreetMap; commercial use is included in the price, passing on or reselling the file itself is not permitted (FAQ on the home page) |
What we do not have
- We do not edit each file by hand: the file is built automatically at order time, and mapping errors in OpenStreetMap for that place go into it as they are.
- We do not print on paper or canvas or ship anything: we hand over the file only.
What their site shows
- The owner is Christopher Nonne, a sole proprietor in Rödental, Germany (the Impressum page).
- The home page gives its own figures: 22,250+ customers and 89,900+ orders since 2014.
- The catalogue holds ready-made figure-ground and site plans of cities; 53 plans are marked free on the home page.
- Printed posters (A2 — 39 EUR) and canvases (50 x 70 cm — 89 EUR) are sold separately.
- There is a free cadastral map: by their account, 15 German states and seven countries on one map.
Data licence: ODbL
Our files are built from OpenStreetMap data. The OpenStreetMap database is released under the Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0, and its cartography under CC BY-SA 2.0.
ODbL permits commercial use: the file may go into a project, into print and into sale. Two conditions apply. First, credit the source: «© OpenStreetMap contributors». Second, if you publish a modified or extended DATABASE, it must be released under the same terms; this does not extend to a drawing in which the map became a background.
We hand the attribution over with the file: the line «© OpenStreetMap contributors» goes into the sheet caption and into the export metadata, and for terrain the elevation source is printed next to it. Nothing has to be added by hand — it is enough to keep that line visible.
Licence texts: https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright