Feature
OpenStreetMap and Overture, in one index
geolith builds its geocoding index from two open datasets, OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, and merges them into one .glx file. The planet file built on 22 Oct 2026 holds 678,043,458 places and answered 21 of 21 world test queries correctly, including London, the Eiffel Tower, Tokyo Station, 東京タワー and मुंबई. The hosted API at api.geolith.app answers from this planet file, worldwide.
What are OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps?
OpenStreetMap is a map of the world built by volunteers and published under the Open Database License. Overture Maps is an open map dataset published by the Overture Maps Foundation, with a large places layer. geolith merges both into one worldwide index of 678,043,458 places.
Detail
Two sources, merged
OpenStreetMap brings streets, addresses, settlements and a long tail of local POIs. Overture Maps brings a large, regularly refreshed places dataset. In the India benchmark, Overture POIs are where the gap is widest: geolith 93.0% top-1 against 6.0 to 12.5% for engines that index OpenStreetMap only.
Detail
Measured regions
Gold sets of hand-checked answers exist for India, Kanto (Tokyo), Berlin and the Paris region, with top-1 accuracy between 77.5% and 100% per set on the planet file.
- India: 7 sets of 200 queries each, against Nominatim, Photon and Pelias.
- World: 21 test queries, including Japanese and Hindi names, 21/21 correct.
- Google check (India): geolith’s first result was within 1 km of Google’s for 113 of 194 real queries (58%).
Detail
Names in many scripts
geolith indexes local names and names in other languages, and the lang parameter returns a place’s name in the language you ask for when the data has one.
Guides
See it in code
Questions
Global coverage: questions
- Which countries does geolith cloud cover?
- Every country. The hosted API answers from the planet file: 678,043,458 places from OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps.
- Where does the data come from?
- OpenStreetMap (ODbL) and Overture Maps. Show "© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Overture Maps Foundation" where you display results.
- Is geolith better than Google?
- We do not claim that. On 194 real Indian queries, geolith’s first result was within 1 km of Google’s 58% of the time; Photon was about 18%, Nominatim about 12% and Pelias about 8% on the first 110 queries.
Sources
- Copyright and License, OpenStreetMap (read 2026-10-22)
- Overture Maps Foundation, Overture Maps Foundation (read 2026-10-22)
- geolith search benchmarks: engines, geolith (read 2026-10-22)
Geocode your first address in a minute.
100,000 requests a month free. Commercial use with attribution. No card.