---
name: "osmcoastline_segments"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "osmcoastline"
version: "2.4.1-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/osmcoastline_segments"
---

# osmcoastline\_segments(1)

analyze OpenStreetMap coastline changes from segment files

## NAME

osmcoastline\_segments - analyze OpenStreetMap coastline changes from segment files

## SYNOPSIS

**osmcoastline\_segments** \[*OPTIONS*\] *SEGMENT-FILE1* *SEGMENT-FILE2*

## DESCRIPTION

The **osmcoastline** program can write out all segments of the coastline into a file (when started with the **-S,** **--write-segments=FILE** option). This program can be used to compare two of those segment files in various ways to detect coastline changes between different runs of the **osmcoastline** program.

## OPTIONS

- \-h, --help

  Display usage information.

- \-d, --dump

  Dump segment list to stdout in plain text format.

- \-g, --geom=FILENAME

  Write segments to geometry file or database using OGR.

- \-f, --format=FORMAT

  OGR format for writing out geometries.

- \-V, --version

  Display program version and license information.

## DIAGNOSTICS

**osmcoastline\_segments** exits with exit code

- 0

  if the segment files are the same

- 1

  if the segment files are different

- 3

  if there was a fatal error when running the program

- 4

  if there was a problem with the command line arguments.

## EXAMPLES

Just return 0 or 1 depending on whether the segments are the same in both files:

-

  ```
  osmcoastline_segments old.segments new.segments
  ```

Dump the list of removed and added segments to stdout:

-

  ```
  osmcoastline_segments --dump old.segments new.segments
  ```

Create a shapefile with the differences:

-

  ```
  osmcoastline_segments --geom=diff.shp old.segments new.segments
  ```

## SEE ALSO

- •

  `README.md`

- •

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

- •

  Project page ⟨https://osmcode.org/osmcoastline/⟩\\c

- •

  OSMCoastline in OSM wiki ⟨https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSMCoastline⟩\\c

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2012-2025 Jochen Topf \<jochen@topf.org\>. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later \<https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html\>. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

## CONTACT

If you have any questions or want to report a bug, please go to https://osmcode.org/contact.html

## AUTHORS

Jochen Topf \<jochen@topf.org\>.