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CSV (Comma-Separated Values)

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.csv · text/csv

CSV with WKT geometry is a universal text format for geodata exchange. Opens in any spreadsheet application, easily imports into databases, and is used in data processing scripts.

Export CSV now ✨ Open Beta — free, no limits

Key Features

✓Text format

✓WKT geometry

✓Opens in Excel

✓Easy DB import

About CSV Format

CSV is a simple table: a row per object, columns separated by commas. Geography is put into it in two ways, and we use both at once: the full geometry of an object is written as text in WKT format, and next to it come the latitude and longitude of a representative point — for a line and a polygon that is a point on the object itself, not a nominal center outside it.

The format is chosen when the map is needed as data rather than as a picture: to count objects in a table, to merge with an export from your own system, to load into a database, to hand to a colleague without a GIS, to run through a script. CSV is read by literally everything — from Excel to pandas.

The output is a single file in UTF-8 encoding. One layer gives an ordinary table; if several layers are selected, they are gathered into one file, and the first column _layer shows where the row came from — it makes splitting the data back apart easy. OSM attributes go as separate columns, and the coordinates are in WGS84 rounded to seven decimal places, which is about a centimeter.

What Program Opens CSV Files

The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with CSV (Comma-Separated Values) (.csv) files exported from OSM2CDR:

📈Excel 💻Google Sheets 💻Python (pandas) 📐R 💻PostGIS 🌎QGIS

Format specifications

Open standard
2D only
Lossless (no quality loss)
Stores feature attributes
Output: 1 file
RFC 4180 CSV with WKT geometry column or lat/lon pairs. UTF-8 encoded. Opens in Excel, LibreOffice, pandas, QGIS.

Who Uses CSV Maps

🏗

Data exchange

Passing geodata to where there is no GIS: anyone can open a table.

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Database import

Loading into PostgreSQL, MySQL or a warehouse with a single import command.

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Excel/Google Sheets

Work in a familiar spreadsheet: filters, pivots, counting objects by type.

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Processing scripts

Processing with Python or R scripts without installing geo libraries.

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ETL pipelines

An intermediate layer in an ETL pipeline between the export and the target system.

How to Export CSV

Select area

Draw a rectangle or polygon on the interactive map at osm2cdr

Choose CSV

Select CSV (Comma-Separated Values) from the list of 127 available export formats

Export

Click Export and receive your .csv file in 1-5 minutes

Download

Download the ready CSV file and open it in Excel

How to Open After Export

Excel — do not open the file with a double click, otherwise non-Latin text turns into gibberish: Data → Get Data → From Text/CSV, encoding UTF-8, comma as the separator.
QGIS — Layer → Add Layer → Add Delimited Text Layer; choose the WKT column as the geometry, coordinate system EPSG:4326.
Python — pandas.read_csv for the table, and for the geometry shapely.wkt.loads on the WKT column, or geopandas straight away if you need spatial analysis.
PostGIS — load the table with the COPY command and turn the text into geometry through ST_GeomFromText with SRID 4326.
Google Sheets and My Maps — accept the latitude and longitude columns directly, if a point representation of the objects is enough.

Popular maps in CSV

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I open the CSV map in Excel? ▼

How to import CSV into PostGIS? ▼

How do I open the file in Excel without garbled characters? ▼

What are the _layer, lat and lon columns? ▼

What coordinate system do the coordinates come in? ▼

Compare with Other Formats

⚖ CSV vs GEOJSON ⚖ EXCEL vs CSV ⚖ GEOJSON vs CSV

Convert to CSV and back

⇆ CSV → AI ⇆ CSV → CDR ⇆ CSV → DWG ⇆ CSV → DXF ⇆ CSV → EPS ⇆ CSV → PDF ⇆ CSV → SVG ⇆ CSV → GeoJSON

CSV guides and tutorials

📖 Working with Shapefiles in QGIS 📖 Geo Analytics for Real Estate 📖 OpenStreetMap for Academic Research

Related Formats

Frequently Exported Together

CSV+💻GeoJSON 🌎Shapefile 🗺GPX

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