JOSM - OpenStreetMap Wiki (original) (raw)

JOSM
Authors:	Immanuel Scholz, Dirk Stöcker and other contributors
License:	GNU GPL (free of charge)
Platforms:	Windows, Linux, and macOS
Status:	Active
Version:	19412 Changelog (2025-06-03)
Languages:	Arabic, Asturian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Valencian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Canadian English, Australian English, British English, Spanish, Estonian, Basque, Finnish, French, Galician, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Norwegian Bokmål, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese
Website:	https://josm.openstreetmap.de
Source code:	https://josm.openstreetmap.de/svn/trunk
Programming language:	Java
Offline highly expandable map editor
Features Feature Value Map Display Display map yes Map data raster;vector Source cache;offline Rotate map ? 3D view ? Shows website ? Shows phone number ? Shows operation hours ? Routing? Navigating? Tracking? Monitoring Monitoring ? Show current track ? Open existing track yes Altitude diagram ? Show POD value ? Satellite view ? Show live NMEA data ? Show speed ? Send current position ? Editing Add POIs yes Edit / Delete POIs yes Add way yes Edit geometries yes Edit arbitrary tags of existing OSM objects yes Edit relations yes View notes yes Create notes yes Edit notes yes Work offline offline Support imagery offset DB yes Upload to OSM yes Rendering? Accessibility Accessibility support ? Complete non graphics text output no Braille interface no Exploration modus ? Public Transport mode ? Danger Warnings ? Screenreader ? Screenreader languages ?

JOSM logo since August 2019

JOSM (Java OpenStreetMap Editor) is a desktop application for editing OpenStreetMap, the most powerful and complicated out of available editors. Its homepage is located at josm.openstreetmap.de.

JOSM is a feature-rich editor with an interface which can seem complex at first. Although it has a relatively steep learning curve, JOSM is popular among experienced editors thanks to its plugins and stability. In 2024 it was used by 6.9% of all users, but they made 59.1% of all edits.

There are other editors for OpenStreetMap data, such as iD and Potlatch. If you are unsure which editor to use, see the Comparison of editors article.

Installation

JOSM can be downloaded from the JOSM homepage. Many Linux distributions offer JOSM packages. See JOSM/Linux. It can be run as a local Java installation or with Java WebStart, which causes the latest version to be fetched over the Internet each time the program is run. Java version 1.8, minimum, is required to run JOSM as of 2017. The site security certificates for JOSM WebStart are invalid and will generate multiple warnings during startup, requiring the user to accept exceptions several times before the program is ready to use.

Usage

JOSM screenshot, editing in Cleveland, Ohio, USA

JOSM/Guide

The Guide will take you through getting started, downloading some data, basic editing and more advanced editing features. It is intended for beginners to read the guide from the beginning. This is a descriptive guide providing a simple introduction. Some details are intentionally left out.

See also

• the official JOSM introduction
• JOSM tutorial at learnosm.org

JOSM/FAQ

Will cover common questions.

Video Tutorials

Main article: Video tutorials#JOSM video collection

Several good tutorials have been created and shared by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team via YouTube:

• JOSM Basics - August 31, 2019
• Two Minute Tutorials: Drawing Buildings in JOSM

Help with JOSM

The JOSM Help manual should provide more exhaustive in-depth explanations of each JOSM feature. It is intended to be used as a reference manual, rather than reading from end-to-end. It is also accessible by pressing F1 within the application (context sensitive help)

JOSM Validator

Main article: JOSM/Validator

Advanced editing

JOSM is capable of advanced and efficient editing, up to and including automated edits and imports.

History

Originally developed by Immanuel Scholz and currently maintained by Dirk Stöcker.

See also

• JOSM/Plugins – for optional extensions that can be downloaded and installed in JOSM.
• JOSM/Presentations – for talks about JOSM given at various conferences.
• JOSM/ subpages
• Comparison of editors
• iD – default editor (online) on osm.org
• RapiD – maintained fork of iD
• Potlatch 3