[OSM-dev] Fastest way to extract a bounding box

[Roland Olbricht]

Hello Benjamin,

> I'm looking for the fastest way to extract a bounding box from osm-data.
> The intention is to get a section (a square of about 5km * 5km)
> around a user's current position in a few seconds.
[...]
> I extracted such a bounding-box from "germany.osm.pbf" with osmosis in
>  about 110 seconds.[...] in about 53 seconds.

You may want to try OSM3S as a server. I got the 5km x 5km around my home in 
about 2 seconds from the planet size database.

Please have a look at
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM3S/install
Feel free to ask what you don't understand. As the server developer and 
maintainer I'm happy to use feedback to improve the manual and/or user 
interface.

Best regards,

Roland