OpenStreetMap — `building=*` Realisation of Buildings

Leaf: Buildings Dataset: OpenStreetMap — building=*

OSM contains building footprints globally. Coverage is excellent in urban areas and variable in rural and developing regions.

Primary tag: building=yes (generic), or typed values such as building=residential, building=commercial, building=school, building=hospital.

osmnx access

import osmnx as ox
ox.settings.cache_folder = ".cache/"
 
buildings = ox.features_from_place(
    "Copenhagen, Denmark",
    tags={"building": True}
)
# Returns GeoDataFrame, geometry = Polygon/MultiPolygon, CRS = EPSG:4326

Geofabrik layer

gis_osm_buildings_a_free_1.shp — polygon layer, fields: osm_id, code, fclass, name.

Overpass (fallback)

[out:json][timeout:90];
area["name"="Copenhagen"]["admin_level"="7"]->.a;
(way["building"](area.a); relation["building"](area.a););
out body; >; out skel qt;

Key OSM attributes

Tag	Meaning
building=*	Building type (residential, commercial, industrial, school)
building:levels=*	Number of above-ground floors
start_date=*	Construction year (sparse)
name=*	Building name (public buildings)
addr:housenumber, addr:street	Address tags (variable coverage)