Open Street Map

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an open source website that provides open map data from user contributions (not official sources). While this allows for data to be updated more quickly, the type of data available for each location varies. Therefore, you must first check if the data you need is available on OSM's website. If OSM does not have the data you need, please talk to a staff member.

1. Open a web browser and go to http://www.openstreetmap.org/.
2. Zoom in to your desired location.
3. Check if the spatial data you need (roads, building footprints, etc.) is available for that location.

Now that you have ensured that the data is available, you can extract the data. 

Geofabrik Downloads

This method extracts OSM data into shapefiles that each represent roads, building footprints, waterways, etc. 

Geofabrik Downloads offers regularly-updated extracts of continents, countries, and selected cities.

1. Open the website in a browser.
2. Click on the Export tab on the top of OpenStreetMap web page.
3. From the menu, go to Geofabrik Downloads.
4. From the table, click on the Sub-Region your area of interested is located in. Some countries and regions are subdivided into smaller datasets.
5. Find and click on the link with .shp.zip file extension, which yields ESRI compatible shape files when unzipped.