[](https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/com.geodesk/geodesk)
GeoDesk is a fast and storage-efficient geospatial database for OpenStreetMap data. Also available [for C++](https://github.com/clarisma/libgeodesk) and [for Python](https://github.com/clarisma/geodesk-py).
> [!IMPORTANT]
> For Version 2.0, you will need to build GOLs with [GOL Tool 2.0](https://github.com/clarisma/geodesk-gol).
>
> To read GOLs built with [GOL Tool 1.x](https://github.com/clarisma/gol-tool), use [Version 1.1.0](https://github.com/clarisma/geodesk/releases/tag/1.1.0) of this toolkit.
## Why GeoDesk?
- **Small storage footprint** — GeoDesk's GOL files are only 20% to 50% larger than the original OSM data in PBF format — that's less than a tenth of the storage consumed by a traditional SQL-based database.
- **Fast queries** — typically 50 times faster than SQL.
- **Fast to get started** — Converting `.osm.pbf` data to a GOL is 20 times faster than an import into an SQL database. Alternatively, download pre-made data tiles for just the regions you need and automatically assemble them into a GOL.
- **Intuitive API** — No need for object-relational mapping; GeoDesk queries return `Node`, `Way` and `Relation` objects. Quickly discover tags, way-nodes and relation members. Get a feature's `Geometry`, measure its length/area.
- **Proper handling of relations** — (Traditional geospatial databases deal with geometric shapes and require workarounds to support this unique and powerful aspect of OSM data.)
- **Seamless integration with the Java Topology Suite (JTS)** for advanced geometric operations, such as buffer, union, simplify, convex and concave hulls, Voronoi diagrams, and much more.
- **Modest hardware requirements** — If it can run a 64-bit JVM, it'll run GeoDesk.
## Get Started
### Maven
Include this dependency in your project's `pom.xml`:
```xml
com.geodesk
geodesk
2.1.0
```
Alternatively, to build the latest version from source:
```
git clone https://github.com/clarisma/geodesk.git
cd geodesk
mvn install
```
### Example Application
```java
import com.geodesk.feature.*;
import com.geodesk.geom.*;
public class PubsExample
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
var library = Features.open("switzerland.gol"); // 1
for(Feature pub: library // 2
.select("na[amenity=pub]") // 3
.in(Box.ofWSEN(8.53,47.36,8.55,47.38))) // 4
{
System.out.println(pub.stringValue("name")); // 5
}
library.close(); // 6
}
}
```
What's going on here?
1. We're opening a feature library (`switzerland.gol`)
2. We iterate through all the features ...
3. ... that are pubs ([GeoDesk query language](https://docs.geodesk.com/goql) — *similar to MapCSS*)
4. ... in downtown Zurich (*bounding box with West/South/East/North coordinates*).
5. We print the name of each pub.
6. We close the library.
That's it, you've created your first GeoDesk application!
### More Examples
Find all movie theaters within 500 meters from a given point:
```java
Features movieTheaters = library
.select("na[amenity=cinema]")
.maxMetersFromLonLat(500, myLon, myLat);
```
*Remember, OSM uses British English for its terminology.*
Discover the bus routes that traverse a given street:
```java
for(Feature route: street.parents("[route=bus]"))
{
System.out.format("- %s from %s to %s",
route.stringValue("ref"),
route.stringValue("from"),
route.stringValue("To"));
}
```
Count the number of entrances of a building:
```java
int numberOfEntrances = building.nodes("[entrance]").size();
```
## Documentation
- [GeoDesk Developer's Guide](https://docs.geodesk.com/java)
- [API Reference](https://apidocs.geodesk.com/v2)
## Related Repositories
- [geodesk-gol](http://www.github.com/clarisma/geodesk-gol) — command-line utility for building, maintaining and querying GOL files
- [geodesk-examples](http://www.github.com/clarisma/geodesk-examples) — example applications
- [geodesk-tests](http://www.github.com/clarisma/geodesk-tests) — integration tests
- [libgeodesk](https://github.com/clarisma/libgeodesk) — GeoDesk for C++
- [geodesk-py](https://github.com/clarisma/geodesk-py) — GeoDesk for Python
- [gol-tool](http://www.github.com/clarisma/gol-tool) — legacy GOL Tool (supports GOL 1.0 files)