[OSM-dev] {To Robin} Re: OSM Data Question from FireGirl

Robin Paulson robin.paulson at gmail.com
Wed Feb 13 19:40:43 GMT 2008


On 13/02/2008, Fire Girl <firegirl at amorous.com> wrote:
> Thank you Robin -- thanks for the information!  I am still new at
> development but trying to get all the pieces of information together.  It is
> very interesting to digest and I appreciate your time so much!

no problem

>  So, I looked at this.... and please correct me if I am wrong.....So, if I
> am not misunderstanding... one can obtain the very large planet.osm file,
> and if implemented correctly on a local Intranet system like mine I have in

i wouldn't know about the local intranet part, although i imagine
osmxapi could be setup to run anywhere

> mind, ... if I know the correct BBOX coordinates, ... I could input them &
> run some kind of query and then extract a data.osm ''sub-file'' for any
> Country, City or other geography, ... based on such coordinates? :-) :-) ...
> and go from there with the data.osm file into other applications?

yes, exactly. that's what the command on the nz page i pointed to will do

>  May I ask, if this logic of mine is correct, what sort of Windows or Linux
> system is best suited for this exercise, to break down the planet.osm file,

well, that depends what you're really asking :-).
ideologically/practically, i would suggest a linux system for just
about anything - there are few things i find windows better for.
personally i use ubuntu, but i would imagine any of the modern,
well-maintained distros will perform just as well

being more pragmatic, most of the tools we use here are open source
and can be compiled for windows or linux, but linux is so much easier
- there's no messing around getting the base tools - gcc, wget, etc
that come installed with linux

> further, to this end, where also to find BBOX coordinates for most major
> places?  I mean, I can clearly see published out there New Zealand is

well, those are latitude/longitude values, so any decent map will show them
if you look at the main map at http://openstreetmap.org/ and zoom in
to the area you want, you can find the coordinate of any arbitrary
point by hovering over the 'permalink' hyperlink at bottom right

> something like [bbox=165.9,-47.9,179.0,-34.0], because someone has posted
> that information.... but how do I get these coordinates for any arbitrary
> locale without guessing or hunting them down? :) :)
>
>  thank you so much for brain knowledge to help me advance mine

on the other hand, they might be published on the relevant wiki
project page....hint, hint, to wiki project page maintainers.......

glad to help




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