Articles about map export formats, tools and OpenStreetMap data use cases.
Brother PES is an embroidery format from Brother Industries Japan (1990s+) with embedded thread colors and raster preview: the standard for consumer home embroidery (Brother PE800, SE-1900, Babylock, Bernina), backbone of Etsy embroidered products marketplace.
PostGIS SQL dump is a plain SQL export of a PostgreSQL+PostGIS database via pg_dump: the foundation for dev/prod replication, cloud provider migration, GDPR-compliant archival, and the native output of the osm2pgsql pipeline for regional OSM extracts.
Overpass JSON is the output format of Overpass API, a read-only query language over OpenStreetMap by Roland Olbricht (FOSS, 2008): tag-based extraction, attic queries, recursive operators, backbone for overpass-turbo, osmnx, and dozens of downstream services.
Deep guide to OSM PBF — the binary Protocol Buffers format used to distribute planet.osm dumps and Geofabrik regional extracts. History, block structure, difference from MVT PBF, osm2pgsql/imposm/Osmium tooling, and how to use dumps together with osm2cdr.ru.
Deep guide to the .nwc/.nwf/.nwd triplet — Autodesk Navisworks federated BIM format. Clash detection, 4D scheduling, how to add OSM site context from osm2cdr.ru.
Deep guide to NMEA 0183 — text-based serial protocol for GPS/GNSS receivers. History since 1983, sentence-based format, $GPGGA and $GPRMC, RS-422 and USB, successor NMEA 2000, and how to use it with osm2cdr.ru exports.
Minecraft Sponge Schematic (.schem v2/v3) is an NBT-based binary format for saving and loading Minecraft builds: the foundation of WorldEdit, FAWE, Litematica plugins, the Build the Earth 1:1 OpenStreetMap project, and educational geo-visualization.
Deep guide to MPS — Garmin MapSource project format (2000-2013). Desktop application history, file structure, migration to BaseCamp, how to convert legacy .mps to GPX via gpsbabel and why it still matters.
MapLibre's December 2020 fork from Mapbox, what's shared and where the specs diverge today, how to migrate style.json, and how to assemble a custom style for an OSM PMTiles export from osm2cdr.ru.
Deep guide to MapInfo MID/MIF — text-based geodata interchange format: history, spec, .mid + .mif file pair, conversion to modern formats, how to export MID/MIF from osm2cdr.ru.
Deep guide to Lowrance USR — proprietary binary format of Lowrance HDS/Elite/HOOK chartplotters for storing waypoints, tracks and routes. File structure, versions, gpsbabel conversion, and how to use with osm2cdr.ru exports.
Deep guide to Mapbox Style Specification — the JSON schema describing vector-map appearance. History, file structure, expressions, how to author a style for a PMTiles export of OSM from osm2cdr.ru.