Find OSM features inside a bounding box or an OSM boundary
openstreetmap_query_bboxRead-onlyIdempotent
Find OSM features inside an area via the Overpass API, for surveys of everything in a region (openstreetmap_query_nearby covers proximity to a point). Scope with the four corner fields south, west, north, east, or with within and a single OSM boundary ref such as a city relation or a park way, which searches the boundary polygon itself instead of an overcovering box; never both. Filter with amenity, or with tag_key plus an optional tag_value, ANDing up to five more filters; every feature returns with its full OSM tag set (no extratags flag here).
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| east | No | Eastern boundary longitude (maximum longitude). A value below west describes an antimeridian crossing rather than an inverted box. | |
| west | No | Western boundary longitude (minimum longitude). A west greater than east is valid, not an error: Overpass reads it as an antimeridian-crossing box and returns the union of west..180 and -180..east. | |
| limit | No | Maximum results to return. Applied after the Overpass query — if the area has more features, they are truncated. | |
| north | No | Northern boundary latitude (maximum latitude). | |
| south | No | Southern boundary latitude (minimum latitude). One of four corner fields: supply all four, or use within instead. | |
| offset | No | Number of matching features to skip before applying limit, for paging through a large result set. The full match set is fetched and cached ~10 minutes keyed by the query, so re-paging at a new offset is deterministic and costs no extra upstream request. Pass the nextOffset value from a prior truncated response. | |
| within | No | OSM boundary to search inside, as one ref: R plus a relation id ("R237385", Seattle) or W plus a closed-way id ("W13800188", a park), case-insensitive. Take it from osm_type plus osm_id on openstreetmap_search_places, openstreetmap_reverse_geocode, or openstreetmap_lookup_objects. The alternative to the four corner fields, never both. A node ref is rejected: a node is never an area. A ref that maps to no Overpass area returns an empty page whose notice names the cause. | |
| amenity | No | OSM amenity tag value shortcut (e.g. "cafe", "bench", "hospital"). Exactly one primary mode is required: this or tag_key, never both. | |
| filters | No | Up to five additional filters, ANDed with the required primary amenity or tag_key filter in input order. Omitted or [] adds no conditions. Keys must be unique after trimming; keys and values must not contain Overpass QL metacharacters (" \ [ ] ; ( )). | |
| tag_key | No | Primary OSM tag key (e.g. "leisure", "shop", "natural"); omit tag_value to match any feature carrying the key, or supply it for exact equality. The alternative to amenity, never both. Additional filters are ANDed with this tag. | |
| tag_value | No | Literal value paired with tag_key for exact equality (e.g., "park", "supermarket"); omit for key existence. Explicit empty or whitespace-only values are invalid. Keys and values are trimmed; blank unused fields are ignored in amenity mode. | |
| element_types | No | OSM element types to search, at least one. Ways cover most buildings and areas; nodes cover most standalone POIs. Add "relation" for complex structures. Omit the field to search nodes and ways; an empty array is rejected because it can only match nothing. | |
| timeout_seconds | No | Overpass query timeout in seconds. Increase for large bounding boxes or dense areas. |
Output Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| error | No | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. | |
| notice | No | Why this page is empty and what to try: the within ref resolved to no Overpass area, nothing matched (change the scope or tag), or offset ran past the end (retry lower). Absent when results were returned. | |
| elements | No | Matching OSM features inside the requested scope — the bounding box, or the within boundary — up to the limit. | |
| truncated | No | True if results were cut at the limit. Reduce bbox area, add more specific tags, or page with offset to retrieve the rest. | |
| nextOffset | No | Offset to pass on the next call to retrieve the following page of features. Present only when more features remain beyond this page. | |
| totalFound | No | Total features returned by Overpass before limit truncation. | |
| attribution | No | Required data attribution: Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. | |
| effectiveTag | No | The full ordered AND filter chain: key=value for equality, key alone for existence (e.g. "amenity=restaurant, cuisine=italian, name"). | |
| effectiveArea | No | The boundary scope as resolved: the within ref and the Overpass area it mapped to. Absent when the call used the four corner fields. | |
| areasTimestamp | No | Freshness of the Overpass area database, rebuilt on its own schedule and so lagging data_timestamp — a boundary edited since is scoped against its older polygon. Present only on a within call whose endpoint reported it. | |
| data_timestamp | No | OSM data freshness timestamp from the Overpass response. Absent when the endpoint reported no freshness metadata. | |
| servingEndpoint | No | Overpass endpoint that answered, as origin and path. May name a failover mirror, or the endpoint that originally served a cached response. Read with data_timestamp when a result looks slow, sparse, or stale. |