How to download data into Josm from an Overpass server that doesn't support metadata?

SomeoneElse · September 26, 2026, 10:32am

I’d like to use Josm to download some data from Overpass. There’s an option in Josm to do this, and a query wizard. An example query might be:

[out:xml][timeout:90][bbox:{{bbox}}];
(
  way;
);
(._;>;);
out meta;

If I point this at an overpass server (that I control) that doesn’t have metadata or attic data loaded, I can see the request hit the server. Overpass’s transactions.log contains

2026-09-26 10:11:25 [1362011] requesting [out:xml][timeout:90][bbox:51.8528655,-4.2480126,51.8538044,-4.2466712];\n(\n  way;\n);\n(._;>;)nout meta;
2026-09-26 10:11:26 [1362011] read_finished d27ecddb960ea50e 48ccc2ed4e7c3930 4215298245 2a00:23c4:d140:7b01:da9c:67ff:fe4d:d0a3 1334 604 600 4

and database.log contains:

2026-09-26 10:12:48 [1362279] request_read_and_idx() start
2026-09-26 10:12:48 [1084485] waited idle for 136 cycles.
2026-09-26 10:12:48 [1084485] request_read_and_idx of process 1362279 timeout 90 space 536870912.
2026-09-26 10:12:48 [1362279] request_read_and_idx() end
2026-09-26 10:12:48 [1362279] read_idx_finished() start
2026-09-26 10:12:48 [1084485] waited idle for 1 cycles.
2026-09-26 10:12:48 [1084485] read_idx_finished 1362279.
2026-09-26 10:12:48 [1362279] read_idx_finished() end
2026-09-26 10:12:49 [1362279] read_finished() start
2026-09-26 10:12:49 [1084485] waited idle for 14 cycles.
2026-09-26 10:12:49 [1084485] read_finished of process 1362279.
2026-09-26 10:12:49 [1362279] read_finished() end
2026-09-26 10:12:49 [1362279] open64: 2 No such file or directory /opt/op/db/user_data.bin File_Blocks::File_Blocks::1

That missing file is missing because there’s no metadata on that Overpass server. If I point the query at an Overpass server with attic data enabled, that file does exist (even though it won’t have much data in it - the extract the server was loaded with had no metadata in it).

So - what do I change in the Overpass query to get it to work on a server without metadata? Some sort of change to out meta; would make sense, but what? out geom; does get further but then I get:

Failed to download data. Its format is either unsupported, ill-formed, and/or inconsistent.  
Details (untranslated): Missing attribute 'version' on OSM primitive with ID 218320. (at line 8, column 56). 410 bytes have been read

Version information is irrelevant to me here since I’ll want to refresh the updated the downloaded data from OSM before editing it; since Overpass will always lag behind a bit.

Woazboat · September 28, 2026, 7:16pm

The version attribute and other metadata is required for the OSM XML format [1], but is actually optional for the json format [2]. You should be able to get the data into josm if you change [out:xml] into [out:json].

github.com/JOSM/josm

src/org/openstreetmap/josm/io/OsmReader.java

master


      
           * Read out the common attributes and put them into current OsmPrimitive.
           * @param current primitive to update
           * @throws IllegalDataException if there is an error processing the underlying XML source
           */
          private void readCommon(PrimitiveData current) throws IllegalDataException {
              try {
                  parseId(current, getLong("id"));
                  parseTimestamp(current, parser.getAttributeValue(null, "timestamp"));
                  parseUser(current, parser.getAttributeValue(null, "user"), parser.getAttributeValue(null, "uid"));
                  parseVisible(current, parser.getAttributeValue(null, "visible"));
                  parseVersion(current, parser.getAttributeValue(null, "version"));
                  parseAction(current, parser.getAttributeValue(null, "action"));
                  parseChangeset(current, parser.getAttributeValue(null, "changeset"));
          
                  if (options.contains(Options.SAVE_ORIGINAL_ID)) {
                      parseTag(current, "current_id", Long.toString(getLong("id")));
                  }
                  if (options.contains(Options.CONVERT_UNKNOWN_TO_TAGS)) {
                      for (int i = 0; i < parser.getAttributeCount(); i++) {
                          if (!COMMON_XML_ATTRIBUTES.contains(parser.getAttributeLocalName(i))) {
                              parseTag(current, parser.getAttributeLocalName(i), parser.getAttributeValue(i));

github.com/JOSM/josm

src/org/openstreetmap/josm/io/AbstractReader.java

master


      
          protected final void parseVersion(PrimitiveData current, String versionString) throws IllegalDataException {
              int version = 0;
              if (versionString != null) {
                  try {
                      version = Integer.parseInt(versionString);
                  } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                      throw new IllegalDataException(
                              tr("Illegal value for attribute ''version'' on OSM primitive with ID {0}. Got {1}.",
                              Long.toString(current.getUniqueId()), versionString), e);
                  }
                  parseVersion(current, version);
              } else {
                  // version expected for OSM primitives with an id assigned by the server (id > 0), since API 0.6
                  if (!current.isNew() && ds.getVersion() != null && "0.6".equals(ds.getVersion())) {
                      throw new IllegalDataException(
                              tr("Missing attribute ''version'' on OSM primitive with ID {0}.", Long.toString(current.getUniqueId())));
                  }
              }
          }

github.com/JOSM/josm

src/org/openstreetmap/josm/io/OsmJsonReader.java

master


      
          private void readCommon(JsonObject item, PrimitiveData current) throws IllegalDataException {
              try {
                  parseId(current, item.getJsonNumber("id").longValue());
                  parseTimestamp(current, item.getString("timestamp", null));
                  JsonNumber uid = item.getJsonNumber("uid");
                  if (uid != null) {
                      parseUser(current, item.getString("user", null), uid.longValue());
                  }
                  parseVisible(current, item.getString("visible", null));
                  JsonNumber version = item.getJsonNumber("version");
                  if (version != null) {
                      parseVersion(current, version.intValue());
                  }
                  parseAction(current, item.getString("action", null));
                  JsonNumber changeset = item.getJsonNumber("changeset");
                  if (changeset != null) {
                      parseChangeset(current, changeset.intValue());
                  }
              } catch (UncheckedParseException e) {
                  throw new IllegalDataException(e);

This file has been truncated. show original

SomeoneElse · September 29, 2026, 7:55pm

Yes!

[out:json][timeout:90][bbox:{{bbox}}];
(
  way;
);
(._;>;);
out geom;

works