Geometry and data processing

Core operations on OpenStreetMap geometry: buffers, hulls, intersections and differences, simplification, reprojection and summary counts. Every analysis starts here — prepare, clip, merge, count. Everything runs inside the loaded PostGIS database, so there is nothing to download into a desktop GIS.

Tools in this group: 19

Buffer zones

buffer

Builds polygons at a given distance in metres on the ground around every feature of the chosen layer. The radius is recomputed for the latitude of the bounding box centre: at the edges of the largest bounding box it differs by no more than 3%, and by a fraction of a percent on a small one.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Feature centroids

centroid

Returns one point per feature: either the centre of mass or a point guaranteed to lie inside — for polygons of complex shape the second option is the reliable one.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Clip by outline

clip

Clips the features of a layer with an arbitrary polygon passed in the request as GeoJSON. The output holds only the parts that fall inside the outline.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Enclosing hull

convex_hull

Builds a hull around all features of the layer — convex or concave. This is how you get the boundary of the actual extent of the data.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Dissolve polygons

dissolve

Merges the touching polygons of a layer into single areas and removes the internal boundaries.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Geometry simplification

simplify

Thins out the vertices of lines and polygons while preserving topology; the tolerance is set in metres. Needed for light exports and small scales.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Nearest features to a point

proximity

Returns the features of a layer nearest to the given point together with the distance to each one; the number of features is set by limit.

Input: bounding box + pointOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.

Clicking the map sets a point: Point.

Calculation frame, WGS84

Comparison of two areas

area_comparison

Computes a set of urban metrics for the main bounding box and for a second one (bbox_b) and returns them side by side — for comparing districts or cities.

Input: bounding boxOutput: JSON metricsfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

bbox_b required

Voronoi polygons

voronoi

Splits the area into cells of influence around point features: every cell is closer to its own point than to any other.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Distance matrix

distance_matrix

Finds the features of a layer nearest to a given point (or to the centre of the bounding box) and returns straight-line distances on the ground in metres, sorted in ascending order.

Input: bounding box + pointOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.

Clicking the map sets a point: from_point.

Calculation frame, WGS84

Layer intersection

intersection

Returns the geometry where the features of two layers intersect — what falls into both A and B.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Geometry union

union

Merges the geometries of a layer into one; with group_by set, separately for each value of the attribute.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Layer difference

difference

Subtracts from the features of layer A everything that is covered by layer B.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Parallel lines

line_offset

Builds lines offset from the originals (usually roads) by a given distance: centrelines, setbacks, corridor edges.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Spatial join

spatial_join

Works out which features of layer A are related to features of layer B by the chosen type of relation and returns a summary of those links in numbers.

Input: bounding boxOutput: JSON metricsfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Perimeter enclosure

enclosure

Measures what share of a circle of a given radius around a point is closed off by buildings. An indicator of spatial enclosure estimated from OSM building geometry, not a field survey.

Input: bounding box + pointOutput: JSON metricsfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.

Clicking the map sets a point: point.

Calculation frame, WGS84

Layer summary statistics

aggregate-stats

Counts the features of a layer inside the bounding box and computes the total area or length together with basic statistical summaries.

Input: bounding boxOutput: JSON metricsfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Regular sampling grid

grid-sample

Cuts the area into a regular grid and counts the features of a layer in each cell — a ready base for a choropleth map.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Reprojection

reproject

Converts the features of a layer into another coordinate system by EPSG code; the attributes are left unchanged.

Input: bounding boxOutput: GeoJSONfree

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The map appears here once the page has loaded. Without JavaScript you can still order the calculation with the API example below.
Calculation frame, WGS84

Input, output and limits

The input is a rectangular bounding box in WGS84 plus one of nine data layers; some tools also take a point. The output is GeoJSON, JSON metrics or a GeoTIFF.

LayerWhat it holds
buildingsbuildings
roadsroads and streets
poipoints of interest: services, shops, tourism
waterwater bodies
green_areasgreen areas: parks, forests, lawns
railwaysrailways
boundariesadministrative boundaries
landuseland use
waterwayswaterways

Every tool in the section is free. The bounding box may cover up to 100 km². Rate limits are 10 requests per minute per tool run and 30 requests per minute for reading the catalogue. Without signing in you get up to 10 successful calculations a day; after that the service asks you to register and answers 402 with the code login_required. A box larger than the allowed area is also 402, and an unknown tool id is 404.