Working with OpenStreetMap files

Converting PBF to OSM XML

A lot of routing software used in the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project supports Protocolbuffer Binary Format (PBF). There are several tools to convert from PBF to OSM XML and vice versa, if required, including Osmconvert, Osmosis and Osmium:

Tool	Description	Functionality	Example
Osmconvert	Lightweight (but fast) application to convert and process OSM files.	Basic	osmconvert OSMulti-modalRoutingNetwork.pbf >OSMulti-modalRoutingNetwork.osm
Osmosis	Command-line application for processing OSM data.	Intermediate	osmosis --read-pbf OSMulti-modalRoutingNetwork.pbf --write-xml OSMulti-modalRoutingNetwork.osm
Osmium	Multipurpose command-line tool based on the Osmium Library.	Advanced	osmium cat OSMulti-modalRoutingNetwork.pbf -o OSMulti-modalRoutingNetwork.osm

Sorting OSM files

OSM files are usually sorted in a specific way: first the nodes ordered by ID, then ways ordered by ID, then relations ordered by ID. But this is not necessarily always the case.

It is important to check if a file is sorted correctly as many commands only work properly if a file is sorted.

To check if a file is sorted, in Osmium use fileinfo :

> osmium fileinfo -e input.osm.pbf
...
Objects ordered (by type and id): yes
...

To sort a file using Osmium:

> osmium sort input.osm.pbf -o output.osm.pbf

To sort a file using Osmosis:

osmosis --read-pbf input.osm.pbf --sort --write-pbf output.osm.pbf