---
name: "osmium"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "osmium-tool"
version: "1.18.0-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/osmium"
---

# osmium(1)

multipurpose tool for working with OpenStreetMap data

## NAME

osmium - multipurpose tool for working with OpenStreetMap data

## SYNOPSIS

**osmium** *COMMAND* \[*ARG*...\]

**osmium** --version

## DESCRIPTION

Multipurpose tool for working with OpenStreetMap data.

Run **osmium help** *COMMAND* to get more information about a command. This will only work on Linux and OS/X systems and only if the `man` command is available and working correctly.

## OPTIONS

- \-h, --help

  Show usage and list of commands.

- \--version

  Show program version.

## COMMANDS

- add-locations-to-ways

  add node locations to ways in OSM file

- apply-changes

  apply OSM change file(s) to OSM data file

- cat

  concatenate OSM files and convert to different formats

- changeset-filter

  filter changesets from OSM changeset files

- check-refs

  check referential integrity of OSM file

- derive-changes

  create OSM change file from two OSM files

- diff

  display differences between OSM files

- export

  export OSM data

- extract

  create geographical extracts from an OSM file

- fileinfo

  show information about an OSM file

- getid

  get objects from OSM file by ID

- getparents

  get parents of objects from OSM file

- help

  show help about commands

- merge

  merge several OSM files into one

- merge-changes

  merge several OSM change files into one

- removeid

  remove OSM objects with specified IDs

- renumber

  renumber object IDs

- show

  show OSM file

- sort

  sort OSM files

- tags-filter

  filter OSM data based on tags

- time-filter

  filter OSM data by time from a history file

## COMMON OPTIONS

Most commands support the following options:

- \-h, --help

  Show short usage information.

- \-v, --verbose

  Set verbose mode. The program will output information about what it is doing to STDERR.

## MEMORY USAGE

Osmium commands try to do their work as memory efficient as possible. But some osmium commands still need to load quite a bit of data into main memory. In some cases this means that only smaller datasets can be handled. Look into the man pages for the individual commands to learn more about their memory use.

On most commands, if you use the **--verbose/-v** option, osmium will print out the peak memory usage at the end. This is the actual amount of memory used including the program code itself, any needed libraries, and the data. (Printing of memory usage is currently only available on Linux systems.)

If an osmium command exits with an “Out of memory” error, try running it with **--verbose/-v** on smaller datasets to get an idea how much memory it needs.

On Linux a program that uses a lot of memory can be killed by the kernel without the program being notified. If you see osmium dieing without any apparent reason, this might be the case. Search on the Internet for “OOM killer” to find out more about this.

## SEE ALSO

- •

  [**osmium-add-locations-to-ways**(1)](/osmium-add-locations-to-ways/1.md), [**osmium-apply-changes**(1)](/osmium-apply-changes/1.md), [**osmium-cat**(1)](/osmium-cat/1.md), [**osmium-changeset-filter**(1)](/osmium-changeset-filter/1.md), [**osmium-check-refs**(1)](/osmium-check-refs/1.md), [**osmium-derive-changes**(1)](/osmium-derive-changes/1.md), [**osmium-diff**(1)](/osmium-diff/1.md), [**osmium-export**(1)](/osmium-export/1.md), [**osmium-extract**(1)](/osmium-extract/1.md), [**osmium-fileinfo**(1)](/osmium-fileinfo/1.md), [**osmium-getid**(1)](/osmium-getid/1.md), [**osmium-getparents**(1)](/osmium-getparents/1.md), [**osmium-merge**(1)](/osmium-merge/1.md), [**osmium-merge-changes**(1)](/osmium-merge-changes/1.md), [**osmium-renumber**(1)](/osmium-renumber/1.md), [**osmium-show**(1)](/osmium-show/1.md), [**osmium-sort**(1)](/osmium-sort/1.md), [**osmium-tags-filter**(1)](/osmium-tags-filter/1.md), [**osmium-time-filter**(1)](/osmium-time-filter/1.md), [**osmium-file-formats**(5)](/osmium-file-formats/5.md), [**osmium-index-types**(5)](/osmium-index-types/5.md), [**osmium-output-headers**(5)](/osmium-output-headers/5.md)

- •

  Osmium website ⟨https://osmcode.org/osmium-tool/⟩\\c

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2013-2025 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\>.