[OSM-dev] Basic API Usage

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

there is no such thing as "the OSM API". There's a multitude of services
operated by different parties.

Your use case can probably be served by either the "Nominatim" search
service or the "Overpass" database query service. Nominatim is easier to
use but will only support a fixed, built-in list of amenities. I am not
sure if "computer store" is among them, but e.g. the query "supermarkets
in new york" works with Nominatim. You can retrieve the results in JSON.
Overpass allows you to search for anything you know the OSM "tags" of
and will return the results in OSM XML form which may require some more
processing.

There are public instances of both Nominatim
(nominatim.openstreetmap.org) and overpass (overpass-api.de - and
overpass-turbo.eu which is a nice UI bolted onto Overpass). But if you
plan to use these services intensively, e.g. build them into a software
that you are distributing, you'll have to set up your own version of the
services (it's all open source) or pay someone to host them for you.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"