PostScript (.ps)
Open BetaPostScript (.ps) is a page-description language by Adobe, predecessor of PDF. A pre-press and archival standard for scientific publishing, supported by thousands of printers and RIP servers. Ideal for the LaTeX pipeline (dvips → ps2pdf) and for keeping editable vector map layouts in long-term archives.
Key Features
About PostScript Format
PostScript is a page description language invented by Adobe in the early 1980s; PDF grew directly out of it. A .ps file is, in essence, a small program executed by the interpreter inside a printer or a RIP server: it draws vector outlines, text and raster inserts. Level 3 is still understood by office and print-shop devices, and the free Ghostscript opens such a file on any operating system.
An OpenStreetMap map is exported to PostScript when the result goes into a printing or archival pipeline: hand it to a print shop, put it on a RIP, keep the layout in editable vector form for years ahead. For on-screen viewing the format is awkward — usually a .ps is first turned into a PDF with a single command.
Here is how the file is built on our side: QGIS draws the sheet in vector, the labels stay as text with embedded fonts, and then Ghostscript converts the result into PostScript Level 3 with a standard DSC structure. The sheet is 297x210 mm by default (A4 in landscape orientation), raster elements are 300 DPI. PostScript has no layers by the design of the format itself: the map arrives as a single stream of vector commands.
What Program Opens PostScript Files
The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with PostScript (.ps) (.ps) files exported from OSM2CDR:
Format specifications
- Open standard
- 2D only
- Lossless (no quality loss)
- No attributes
- Output: 1 file
- PostScript Level 3. Page-description language for printers; open with Ghostscript or convert to PDF for viewing.
Who Uses PostScript Maps
How to Export PostScript
How to Open After Export
- Ghostscript (free) — both viewing and conversion: ps2pdf map.ps map.pdf gives you a PDF, and calling gs with -r300 rasterizes the sheet at the resolution you need.
- GSview on Windows or Evince on Linux — open the .ps directly and look at the page without converting it.
- Adobe Distiller — the regular prepress route: PostScript in, PDF with font and color control out.
- A print shop or a RIP server — the file is handed over as is; agree on the sheet size and margins in advance, otherwise the map will be trimmed at the edge.
- LaTeX — for pdflatex convert the file to PDF with ps2pdf and insert it with the usual includegraphics; in the classic latex + dvips pipeline EPS is more common for illustrations, and you can download that from us too.
Popular maps in PostScript
Get PostScript (.ps) map exports
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