Articles about map export formats, tools and OpenStreetMap data use cases.
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 causes and the fastest fix — build the area you need in our map builder and get a file with buildings, water and greenery already in place.
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.
A .kmz file won't open on double-click? How to open KMZ: Google Earth to just look at it, QGIS to work with the data, or rename it to .zip — inside is a plain KML. And if someone else's KMZ doesn't fit, download the area you need straight in KMZ, KML or GeoJSON.
Can't load an OSM map into QGIS? Three working ways: a ready GeoPackage in seconds, the QuickOSM plugin, and a PBF from Geofabrik — honestly, with the pros and cons of each.
What GLB is, how to open it on Windows, online and in Blender, and how to download a 3D city buildings model straight to GLB, OBJ or STL — with real heights from OpenStreetMap.
A .gpx file won't open on double-click? How to open GPX on a computer, on a phone, in a navigator and in QGIS, what's actually inside such a file, and how to build your own route. Plus — how to download any area straight to GPX.