SpatiaLite (SQLite + spatial)
Open BetaSpatiaLite is a spatial extension for SQLite. A compact single-file database format with full support for spatial queries, indexes, and OGC standards.
Key Features
About SpatiaLite Format
SpatiaLite is SQLite with a spatial extension: a single file database, no server, yet real SQL with geometry, spatial functions and indexes. The file is simply copied, put into a repository or onto a flash drive and works anywhere.
The format is taken when the data has to be computed with rather than admired: select buildings within a radius, sum up street length by type, join layers with a query, filter by an attribute. All of that is done with a query straight against the file, without deploying PostGIS.
What is inside: one database file where each OSM layer is a separate table with geometry and attributes; the service tables are filled in and spatial indexes are built at write time. The coordinates are WGS84 (EPSG:4326). QGIS opens the file by drag and drop, GDAL/OGR and Python read it directly.
About the neighbouring format: GeoPackage is also SQLite and also a single file, but it is an OGC standard and other people's software understands it better. SpatiaLite wins where you write the queries yourself and need its full set of spatial functions.
What Program Opens SpatiaLite Files
The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with SpatiaLite (SQLite + spatial) (.sqlite) files exported from OSM2CDR:
Format specifications
- Open standard
- 3D coordinates supported
- Lossless (no quality loss)
- Stores feature attributes
- Output: 1 file
- SpatiaLite .sqlite (open SQLite extension). Indexed spatial queries with R-Tree. Opens in QGIS, SpatiaLite GUI.
Who Uses SpatiaLite Maps
How to Export SpatiaLite
How to Open After Export
- QGIS — drag the file into the program window or add it through the Data Source Manager; the tables will appear as ordinary layers.
- DB Browser for SQLite — look through the tables and run a query; for spatial functions load the mod_spatialite module.
- spatialite-gui and the console spatialite — the project's own tools: queries with spatial functions work out of the box.
- Python — sqlite3 with mod_spatialite loaded for queries, or geopandas.read_file with the table you need given as the layer.
- GDAL — ogr2ogr converts the database into GeoPackage and back with one command if another format turns out to be needed.
Popular maps in SpatiaLite
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Frequently Asked Questions
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