Download Béidé map in WKB format
A map built from OpenStreetMap data, ready to download
Customize the map
Open this place's area in the constructor and adjust everything to your needs
Open in constructor →Map passport
What this map contains by default
This is how the map is built as-is — every setting can be changed in the constructor.
About WKB
Map of Béidé in WKB — an export of real OpenStreetMap data for the selected area.
WKB (Well-Known Binary) is the binary representation of vector geometry from the OGC Simple Features standard (1999), the foundation of almost every GIS database: each geometry inside PostGIS, MySQL Spatial or GeoPackage is WKB. The format is several times more compact than textual WKT because coordinates are packed into doubles without ASCII. Our exporter writes the geometries of the selected OSM layers into a .wkb file: every object is standard OGC WKB, but the file is a container — an 8-byte header (a WKB marker plus the number of objects), then geometries with a length prefix, while the coordinate system lies in a companion .prj file. Honestly: to parse the file you have to read the header and the lengths — this is not a single "bare" blob for a direct ST_GeomFromWKB. Attributes are not preserved, and all the selected layers are merged into one stream of geometries (up to 500,000 objects).
Which layers are in the file
The set of layers depends on the selected area.
File size
The expected size of the WKB file for Béidé is about 187 KB; the exact size depends on the chosen layers and area.
Coordinate systems
WGS 84 (EPSG:4326), selectable in the wizard
Units
Meters (projected in the chosen coordinate system)
| Category | GIS |
| File extension | .wkb |
| Tier | Open Beta |
How to use WKB for Béidé
- Python — read the 8 bytes of the header, then loop: 4 bytes of length and that many bytes of geometry, each through shapely.wkb.loads(); you end up with an ordinary list of Shapely objects.
- PostGIS — load the geometries one at a time: ST_GeomFromWKB(%s, 4326) accepts a chunk unpacked from the container as is.
- The .prj file — do not lose it when moving things around: it records the coordinate system, and without it the receiving side will be guessing.
Programs that open WKB
FAQ: WKB for Béidé
Can I INSERT it directly via ST_GeomFromWKB?
Not directly. The file is a container: an 8-byte header and length-prefixed geometries. First parse the header and the lengths, then feed each individual geometry (standard OGC WKB) into ST_GeomFromWKB.
Where is the coordinate system stored?
In a companion .prj file next to the .wkb, in WKT format. By default it is WGS84.
How does WKB differ from WKT?
They encode the same geometry: WKT is text (POINT(2.3 49.9)), WKB is binary. WKB is more compact and parses faster, WKT is handier for debugging and SQL.
How do I read WKB in Python?
Parse the container (header + lengths), then each geometry via shapely.wkb.loads(byte_data). For hex strings use bytes.fromhex() first.
Are OSM names and tags preserved?
No, the file holds geometry only. Take attributes in GeoPackage, GeoJSON or FlatGeobuf — there the fields lie next to the shapes.
