Overture Maps Foundation (Overture) was established two years ago to create reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. Several data themes were launched, including Addresses, Base, Buildings, Divisions, Places, and Transportation.
About a year ago, a task force dedicated to addresses was formed to gather, standardize, and integrate data from diverse global sources into a single address data layer. The task force comprises members from large corporations, smaller enterprises, non-governmental organizations, and local governments. This diverse team brings a variety of perspectives, enabling innovative solutions to complex challenges.
Many Address Formats, One Schema
The task force’s first objective was to create a flexible data schema capable of accommodating global address variations while standardizing content into key data fields. Address structures differ widely. For example, North American addresses typically follow a pattern of unit number, street number, street name, city, state/province, country, and postal code. Many European countries use a similar format but reverse the street number and name. In other regions, addresses may reference intersections, blocks, or landmarks instead of streets. Some areas lack publicly available address data layers or formal addressing systems, relying instead on descriptions like “the building across from the Central Bank.”
By March 2024, the task force finalized a data schema for addresses, enabling the testing and ingestion of datasets from around the world. With over 2,900 potential open address data sources available, the team initially prioritized national-level datasets that met licensing requirements. While some datasets are freely available without restrictions, others limit commercial use. To ensure compliance, only unrestricted datasets were included in the addressing database, supporting both commercial and non-commercial applications and enabling derivative datasets.
Publishing Content
In July 2024, Overture released its first addressing dataset, featuring over 200 million addresses from 14 countries. This milestone validated the schema’s effectiveness. Monthly updates followed, progressively expanding the database. By December 2024, the database had more than doubled, containing over 400 million addresses from 34 countries.
The database currently includes addresses from the following countries:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Iceland
- Italy
- Japan
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Uruguay
- United States
Some countries, such as the United States, are only partially covered. For these areas, we are looking to include addresses from the subnational level to complete the map.
Current coverage of addresses in Overture
Looking Ahead
The Addresses Task Force’s future efforts include integrating more localized datasets to close gaps, such as those in the United States, and improving the database’s overall quality. The team is also developing QA/QC tools to eliminate errors and duplicates. As more data is integrated and confidence in the schema’s capabilities grows, the address data theme layer is expected to reach General Availability in the first quarter of 2025.
The achievements of the Addresses Task Force highlight the dedication and collaboration of Overture’s members. By building a comprehensive global address database, Overture is creating a more connected and addressable future—one address at a time.
Get Involved
If you’re just getting started, check out our Explorer tool, a no-code option for inspecting Overture data and metadata, the data guides for an overview of our six data themes, and the “Getting Data” section of our documentation.
Visit Overture Maps Foundation website to learn more about our work, and join our community by becoming a member.
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