Skip to content

Get changesets

  • One of the main OpenStreetMap API usabilities

A method for getting a list of changesets, that supports filtering by different criteria. Only changesets by public users are returned (returns at most 100 changesets).

For multiple queries, the results will match all of the requirements

The contents of the returned document are the changesets and their tags. To get the full set of changes associated with a changeset, use the download method on each changeset ID individually. Modification and extension of the basic queries above may be required to support rollback and other uses we find for changesets.

Parameters to specify the criteria

Parameter Syntax Description
bbox min_lon,min_lat,max_lon,max_lat Finds changesets within the given bounding box
user or display_name #uid / #name Finds changesets by the user with the given user ID or display name (providing both is an error)
time T1 / T1,T2 Finds changesets closed after T1 / finds changesets that were closed after T1 and created before T2
from T1 (& to=T2) Finds changesets created at or after T1, and (optionally) before T2 to requires from, but not vice-versa. If to is provided alone, it has no effect
open or close true Only finds changesets that are still open but excludes changesets that are closed or have reached the element limit for a changeset. Alternatively only finds changesets that are closed or have reached the element limit
changesets #cid Finds changesets with the specified IDs
order newest / oldest If newest (default), sort from newest changesets first. If oldest, reverse order
limit number (integer) Specifies the maximum number of changesets returned. A number between 1 and the maximum limit value (currently 100). If omitted, the default limit value is used (currently 100). The actual maximum and default limit values can be found with a capabilities request

Request

/api/0.6/changesets
bbox user ID open/close order limit
14.182, 49.969, 19.011, 51.839 22098 closed oldest 10
Request with example body
/api/0.6/changesets?bbox=14.182,49.969,19.011,51.839&user=22098&closed=true&order=oldest&limit=10

Response

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<osm version="0.6" generator="OpenStreetMap server" copyright="OpenStreetMap and contributors" attribution="http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright" license="http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/">
    <changeset id="412384" created_at="2025-04-23T10:57:06Z" open="false" comments_count="0" changes_count="1" closed_at="2025-04-23T11:51:26Z" min_lat="50.8038794" min_lon="16.2646154" max_lat="50.8038794" max_lon="16.2646154" uid="22098" user="JayStecki">
        <tag k="comment" v="Open changest for node add"/>
        <tag k="created_by" v="JayStecki Test (via Postman)"/>
    </changeset>
    <changeset id="412389" created_at="2025-04-23T12:06:54Z" open="false" comments_count="0" changes_count="9" closed_at="2025-04-23T17:00:37Z" min_lat="50.8038088" min_lon="16.2646154" max_lat="50.8039354" max_lon="16.2648524" uid="22098" user="JayStecki">
        <tag k="comment" v="Open changeset for add/update/delete elements"/>
        <tag k="created_by" v="JayStecki osmAPIdoc test (via Postman)"/>
    </changeset>
    <changeset id="412421" created_at="2025-04-23T17:37:10Z" open="false" comments_count="0" changes_count="7" closed_at="2025-04-23T18:13:07Z" min_lat="50.8038088" min_lon="16.2646154" max_lat="50.8039354" max_lon="16.2648524" uid="22098" user="JayStecki">
        <tag k="comment" v="Open changeset for delete elements"/>
        <tag k="created_by" v="JayStecki osmAPIdoc continue test (via Postman)"/>
    </changeset>
</osm>

Error codes

For misformed parameters, a text message explaining the error is returned. In particular, trying to provide both the uid and display_name as user query parameters will result in this error.

No user with the given uid or display_name could be found.