Open map data is the foundation almost every map you use is built on, even the proprietary ones. It is geographic data, the roads, buildings, places, and boundaries that make up a map, published under a license that lets anyone use it, modify it, and pass it on. In 2026 it is also the subject of a genuine standards fight that will shape how location data works for the next decade.
This guide explains what open map data is, the two datasets that dominate it, the 2026 battle over a shared identifier system, and what it all means if you build with location data.
The Definition
Open map data is geographic data published under an open license: one that grants the right to use, study, modify, and redistribute the data, usually at no cost. "Open" refers to the license, not the price. Plenty of free data is not open (you can look but not redistribute), and open data is occasionally sold as a convenience even though the underlying license is free.
The data itself is the same kind you find in any map: road geometry and names, building footprints, administrative boundaries, land use, water, and points of interest such as shops, schools, and stations. What makes it open is that the license travels with it, so a startup, a researcher, and a multinational can all build on the same base without negotiating access.
OpenStreetMap: The Commons
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is the original and largest open map dataset. Started in 2004, it is a community project: anyone can create an account and edit the map, the same wiki-style model as Wikipedia. Millions of contributors have mapped roads, buildings, and places across the entire planet, and in many regions OSM is more detailed and more current than commercial maps.
OSM data is published under the Open Database License (ODbL). ODbL is a share-alike license: you can use the data for anything, including commercial products, but if you publicly distribute a database derived from it, that derived database must also be offered under ODbL. You must also attribute OpenStreetMap. For most applications this is no burden at all, which is why OSM underpins a huge swathe of the mapping industry, often invisibly.
Overture Maps: The Industry Dataset
In 2022 the Overture Maps Foundation launched, backed by Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and TomTom and hosted by the Linux Foundation. Its aim was to produce a single, clean, regularly released open dataset that large companies could ship in production without friction.
Overture's dataset is a blend. It ingests OpenStreetMap, adds members' own contributed data, layers in machine-derived features (building footprints detected from satellite imagery, for example), runs the result through conflation and quality checks, and publishes versioned releases on a predictable schedule. The data is organised into themes: transportation, buildings, places, addresses, divisions, and base layers.
Crucially, most Overture layers use permissive licenses such as CDLA-Permissive, which drop ODbL's share-alike requirement. That licensing choice is the whole point for the founding companies: it lets them build derived products without the obligation to open those products in turn.
Overture is not a competitor to OpenStreetMap so much as a downstream consumer and complement. OSM remains the living commons that anyone can edit; Overture is a stabilised, schema-consistent snapshot engineered for production. Improvements flow between them.
GERS and the 2026 Standards Battle
The most consequential thing Overture is pushing is not a dataset at all. It is an identifier system.
GERS, the Global Entity Reference System, gives every feature in the map a stable, persistent ID. A road keeps the same GERS ID across releases. A restaurant keeps its ID even if its name, hours, or footprint change. The promise is enormous: if everyone references features by the same persistent ID, you can join your private data to the map, and to other companies' data, without the brittle name-and-coordinate matching that location data work has always required.
In early 2026 the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), the body that governs standards like GeoJSON and WMS, began considering GERS as an international community standard. Adoption would make GERS a shared reference layer for the entire geospatial industry.
It has also become one of the most contested topics in open geospatial data. Supporters see a long-overdue universal join key. Critics worry about a system designed and controlled by a foundation of large technology companies becoming the de facto global standard, and about what it means for the community-governed commons of OpenStreetMap if the industry standardises on identifiers minted elsewhere. The debate is as much about governance and power as about technology.
Why Open Map Data Matters If You Build
For developers and product teams, open map data changes the economics of building anything location-aware. You are not locked into a single vendor's pricing or terms. You can self-host, audit the data, fix errors upstream, and move between providers because they share a common base.
It also means the quality floor keeps rising for everyone. When a contributor maps a new neighbourhood in OSM, every downstream product benefits. When Overture publishes a cleaner buildings layer, the whole industry gets it.
The trade-off is responsibility. Open data comes with licenses, not contracts. There is no support line and no SLA on the raw data itself. You are responsible for understanding the license on each layer, for attribution, and for the freshness and accuracy of what you ship. This is exactly where commercial providers that build on open data add value: they take the open commons and wrap it in reliability, coverage guarantees, and APIs.
How MapAtlas Uses Open Map Data
MapAtlas builds on open map data and adds the reliability layer on top. Our Geocoding API and Search API draw on open datasets including OpenStreetMap, enriched and conflated with additional sources, so you get the breadth of the commons with the consistency of a managed service. Because the base is open, results carry the detail that communities and foundations have mapped, and we focus on European coverage, freshness, and the schema stability that production systems need.
If you want to go deeper on the building blocks, see What Is a Geocode for how addresses become coordinates, and What Is GeoJSON for the open format most of this data is exchanged in.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is open map data?
Open map data is geographic data (roads, buildings, places, boundaries, points of interest) published under a license that lets anyone use, modify, and redistribute it, usually for free. The best known source is OpenStreetMap, a community project mapping the whole planet. Since 2022 the Overture Maps Foundation, backed by Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and TomTom, has published a second large open dataset that blends OpenStreetMap with corporate data and machine-derived features. Open map data sits in contrast to proprietary datasets where the provider charges for access and forbids redistribution.
What is the difference between OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps?
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a volunteer community project started in 2004. Anyone can edit it, and the data is published under the Open Database License (ODbL), a share-alike license. Overture Maps is an industry foundation launched in 2022 that publishes a curated, regularly released dataset built partly from OSM, partly from members' own data, and partly from machine learning. Overture's goal is a clean, schema-stable, production-ready dataset with permissive licensing that large companies can ship without the share-alike obligations of ODbL. The two are complementary rather than rivals: Overture consumes OSM, and improvements often flow in both directions.
What is GERS in Overture Maps?
GERS is the Global Entity Reference System, Overture's scheme for giving every map feature a stable, persistent ID. The idea is that a road, a building, or a place keeps the same identifier across data releases and across different datasets, so you can join your own data to the map and to other providers without re-matching by name or coordinate every time. In early 2026 the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) began considering GERS as an international community standard, which would make it a shared reference layer for the whole industry. It is also one of the more contested proposals in open geospatial data right now.
Can I use open map data commercially?
Usually yes, but read the license. OpenStreetMap data under ODbL is free for commercial use, including in paid products, as long as you attribute OpenStreetMap and apply the share-alike terms to any derived database you publish. Overture data uses more permissive licenses (such as CDLA-Permissive for most layers) that drop the share-alike requirement. The practical question for a business is rarely cost (open data is free) but obligation: attribution, share-alike, and whether your use creates a derived database you must also open. When in doubt, check the specific license on the specific layer you use.
