---
name: "osm2pgsql-expire"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "osm2pgsql"
version: "2.3.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/osm2pgsql-expire"
---

# osm2pgsql-expire(1)

Visualize expire output

## NAME

osm2pgsql-expire - Visualize expire output

## SYNOPSIS

**osm2pgsql-expire** \[*OPTIONS*\] *OSM-FILE* (1) **osm2pgsql-expire** *TILES-FILE* (2)

## DESCRIPTION

**This command is currently experimental.**

The expire command can be used for two things:

- 1\.

  **To check what tiles some OSM data is in.** If an *OSM-FILE* is specified osm2pgsql-expire will calculate the tiles covering the objects in that file. Note that the file must not be a change file but a regular OSM data file! Output is, by default, a tile file, but GeoJSON is also possible. Covering tiles are only calculated for tagged objects.

- 2\.

  **Visualize tile list.** If a *TILE-FILE* (presumably generated by osm2pgsql) is specified, a GeoJSON file is generated showing all mentioned tiles. In this mode all command line options are ignored.

Read the *Expire* chapter of the osm2pgsql manual (https://osm2pgsql.org/doc/manual.html#expire) for details on how to interpret the `-m, \--mode` and `\--full-area-limit` options.

## GEOMETRY GENERATION

To calculate the tiles covering the specified OSM data in mode (1), a geometry has to be generated first for each object. This works as follow:

- •

  For nodes a point geometry will be generated.

- •

  For closed ways a polygon geometry will be generated, for non-closed ways a linestring geometry. If a generated polygon is not valid, the program will fall back to a linestring. If neither a valid polygon nor a valid linestring can be generated the object is ignored.

- •

  For relations a geometry is generated based on the `type` tag. For types `multipolygon` and `boundary`, a multipolygon geometry is created, for types `route` and `multilinestring` a multilinestring geometry is created, for all other types a geometry collection is created.

Note that for (multi)polygons it depends on the command line options --mode and --full-area-limit whether the tiles calculation is based on the area or the boundary of the (multi)polygons.

## OPTIONS

This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (`--`). Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

## MAIN OPTIONS

- \-b, --buffer=VALUE

  Set buffer size around geometry relative to tile size. Example: Set to 0.1 for a buffer that’s 10% of the tile size.

- \-f, --format=FORMAT

  Output format. Options are \`tiles' (default) or \`geojson'. The GeoJSON output uses the Web Mercator projection (EPSG:3857) which is supported by many programs although, strictly speaking, it is not allowed by the GeoJSON spec.

- \--full-area-limit=VALUE

  Set full area limit.

- \-m, --mode=MODE

  Set expire mode. One of `boundary_only`, `full_area` (default), and `hybrid`.

- \-z, --zoom=ZOOM

  Zoom level on which to calculate tiles.

## HELP/VERSION OPTIONS

- \-h, --help

  Print help.

- \-V, --version

  Print osm2pgsql version.

## LOGGING OPTIONS

- \--log-level=LEVEL

  Set log level (\`debug', \`info' (default), \`warn', or \`error').

## SEE ALSO

- •

  osm2pgsql website ⟨https://osm2pgsql.org⟩\\c

- •

  osm2pgsql manual ⟨https://osm2pgsql.org/doc/manual.html⟩\\c

- •

  [**osm2pgsql**(1)](/osm2pgsql/1.md)

- •

  [**postgres**(1)](/postgres/1.md)

- •

  [**osmcoastline**(1)](/osmcoastline/1.md)