WKT (Well-Known Text) is a text representation of geometric objects per the OGC standard.

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WKT (Well-Known Text)

Open Beta

.wkt · text/plain

WKT is a text representation format for geometries, used in databases (PostGIS, SpatiaLite) and GIS applications. Simple and easy to integrate.

Export WKT now ✨ Open Beta — free, no limits

Key Features

✓Text format

✓OGC standard

✓Easy DB integration

✓All geometry types supported

About WKT Format

WKT (Well-Known Text) is the textual encoding of geometry from the OGC standard: POINT(37.6177 55.7558), LINESTRING(...), POLYGON((...)). It is understood by every spatial database and library — PostGIS, SpatiaLite, Shapely, JTS, GEOS — and it can be read by eye, which makes the format indispensable while debugging.

The export is taken when geometry is needed as text: to paste into an SQL query, to put into a test, to pass coordinates to someone else's system, to take a quick look at what came out of the selected area at all.

The output is a single text file in UTF-8. At the top are comments with the bounding box of the area and the coordinate system, then it goes layer by layer: a line like "-- layer: roads" with one geometry per line underneath it. Coordinates are in WGS84 (EPSG:4326) with six decimal places — that is about ten centimeters on the ground.

One important thing: WKT stores shapes only. There are no names, types or other OpenStreetMap tags in the file — if you need attributes, take GeoJSON, GeoPackage or a CSV with a WKT column.

What Program Opens WKT Files

The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with WKT (Well-Known Text) (.wkt) files exported from OSM2CDR:

💻PostGIS 💻SpatiaLite 🌎QGIS 💻Shapely (Python) 💻JTS (Java) 💻GEOS

Format specifications

Open standard
3D coordinates supported
Lossless (no quality loss)
No attributes
Output: 1 file
Well-Known Text (OGC Simple Features). One geometry per line, human-readable. Direct INSERT into PostGIS / Spatialite.

Who Uses WKT Maps

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Databases (PostGIS)

Geometry is pasted into SQL directly through ST_GeomFromText — with no converters and no intermediate files.

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Programming

Convenient material for tests and debugging: the shape is visible to the eye right in the source.

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GIS analysis

Quick exchange of geometry between GIS tools, all of which understand WKT.

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System integration

Passing coordinates to an adjacent system that accepts plain text rather than GIS format files.

How to Export WKT

Select area

Draw a rectangle or polygon on the interactive map at osm2cdr

Choose WKT

Select WKT (Well-Known Text) from the list of 127 available export formats

Export

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

Download

Download the ready WKT file and open it in PostGIS

How to Open After Export

PostGIS — paste the lines as they are: INSERT ... VALUES (ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((...))', 4326)); the SRID must be specified.
Python — from shapely import wkt, then wkt.loads(line) line by line, skipping the lines that begin with two hyphens.
QGIS — the QuickWKT plugin pastes geometry from the clipboard onto a temporary layer; for a full-fledged layer it is easier to download GeoJSON right away.
Tables — WKT is understood by CSV import in QGIS: "Add Delimited Text Layer", with geometry from the WKT field.
Checking — ST_IsValid in PostGIS or shapely.is_valid: self-intersections after simplification do happen, and it is better to learn about them before loading into a database.