contrapunctus ✊🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (contrapunctus@fe.disroot.org)'s status on Friday, 06-Feb-2026 08:38:20 JST

Thanks for pinging me, @unionwhore 🙂

@hakan_geijer I’m not much of an OSM data user, mostly a contributor…but yes, this sounds like a task for QGIS. (JOSM is an OSM editor, and it’s not exactly meant for producing custom maps.)

One way to get large sets of data from OSM is to use extracts, e.g. as provided by GeoFabrik - https://download.geofabrik.de/

(PBF is better for programmatic use, whereas Shapefiles have support in GIS applications like QGIS.)

I recently also learned (at FOSS4G Asia) about how to load OSM’s new vector tiles as a layer in QGIS, to style certain features, and to print the results on paper.

In QGIS, go to Layer - Add Layer - Add Vector Tile Layer.

Under Source Type, select Service. Create a new connection with any name, and the URL https://vector.osm.org/shortbread_v1/{z}/{x}/{y}.mvt.

You should now have an interactive vector map. You can change how it looks by adding rules in the Layer Styling panel (Settings - Panels - Layer Styling).