Who uses osm2pgsql?

This is the original use case for osm2pgsql: Supporting the raster map at www.openstreetmap.org. The OSM Foundations runs a bunch of servers generating and distributing the most iconic OSM map called “OpenStreetMap Carto”. And osm2pgsql makes sure this map is updated, usually within minutes of changes being applied to the OSM database.

If you want to install such a map yourself, have a look at Switch2OSM and OSM Carto. By the way: You don’t have to use the same map style, there are other styles around that use the same database layout.

Nominatim uses OpenStreetMap data to find locations on Earth by name and/or address. This is called geocoding. It can also do the reverse, find an address for any location on the planet.

Nominatim powers the search on the official OSM site at openstreetmap.org. It serves 30 million queries per day on a single server. And it is always kept up to date using osm2pgsql. Nominatim uses database triggers in the PostgreSQL/PostGIS database to analyse the data and build a hierarchy of places from country level, down to state, city, and finally the individual address.

Nominatim is Open Source and you can set it up for yourself.

Thunderforest is a commercial service offering raster and vector maps with custom styles. Their map stack is based on the flex output of osm2pgsql.

Thunderforest is also the source of the popular OpenCycleMap, which is available as one of the map choices on www.openstreetmap.org.

Since 2020 Thunderforest supports osm2pgsql. As well as having paid for the initial development of the “flex output” they also provide monthly sponsorship for routine maintainance and feature development.

The specialized OpenCampingMap shows campsites around the world. It is based on the osm2pgsql flex output. OSM data about camp sites and other POI data is updated hourly into PostgreSQL/PostGIS database.

OpenCampingMap aggregates data from several OSM objects. It uses OSM objects with the tag tourism=camp_site as well as other objects in the vicinity to analyze which amenities such as toilets, showers, sports facilities, etc. are available on this camp ground. For this the osm2pgsql Lua config file and additional SQL commands work together showing the power of having a flexible relation database for complex OSM data analysis.

In the project “Parkraumanalyse” (parking space analysis) OpenStreetMap data about parking spaces along roads and on parking lots is analysed in incredible detail. This helps with understanding how much parking is available in specific areas and how this will be affected by road changes, for instance when new cycle lanes are introduced.

The analysis uses osm2pgsql to extract exactly the data needed from OSM and import it into a database where SQL scripts will do sophisticated processing to prepare the data for visualization.