Articles about map export formats, tools and OpenStreetMap data use cases.
What Russian local MSK coordinate systems are, where zones come from, how to find your zone by region and longitude, and why MSK does not match WGS84. Honest about cadastre and how to download data in a suitable projection.
How WGS 84, EPSG:4326 and EPSG:3857 differ in plain words: datum, degrees and web mercator. Why the map drifts and when meters matter more than degrees. Plus — a choice of 165 coordinate systems on export.
How to turn KMZ into KML (and back) online or by hand in a minute: KMZ is a ZIP with KML inside. Plus — a converter for OSM data to KML/KMZ and downloading an area straight in the right format.
All working ways to download a map from OpenStreetMap: export from osm.org, the Overpass API, Geofabrik and planet.osm, the QuickOSM plugin — honestly about each one's limits. Plus — ready export in 124 formats and a REST API.
Will USGS give you a GeoTIFF for QGIS? Yes — but only after signing up, and SRTM stops at 60°N. How to get elevation for the area you need, by coordinates and without an account — HGT tiles from the global Copernicus GLO-30 DEM — and turn them into a GeoTIFF right in QGIS.
Got a .rvt file and nothing opens it? RVT is Autodesk Revit's closed format — you need Revit or the free Revit Viewer. And get the city site context for BIM in IFC, DWG or DXF — Revit links them.
Need OSM maps for Navitel? Honestly: we don't produce the native .nm7, but Navitel imports GPX — we show the steps. Plus native formats for Garmin (IMG), OsmAnd (OBF), TomTom (OV2) and Lowrance chartplotters.
Opened an .osm or .pbf in QGIS but the multipolygons layer is missing? Here are the three causes and the fastest fix — download an area with polygons already assembled into GeoPackage or GeoJSON.
A map screenshot in Photoshop isn't editable — roads, water and buildings are flattened into one raster. The fix: download the map straight to PSD, where each object type sits on its own layer.
Got an .mbtiles file and not sure how to open it? On desktop — QGIS, on Android — OsmAnd, Locus Map, OruxMaps. And if you need an area map — download it straight to MBTiles, no third-party files.
Need a city map for CorelDRAW? Don't redraw it by hand — download a ready vector map straight in .cdr with layers and curves, ready to edit in Corel.
Got .mif/.mid or .gml files and not sure how to open them? QGIS and GDAL read them for free. And if the format is inconvenient — download the area straight to MapInfo MIF/MID, GML or GeoPackage.