Issue with "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic" Listed in API Data Despite Lack of UN Recognition

I wrote this reply a while ago in answer to a previous similar question. That includes a link to the previous discussion (in the old forum, which got merged into this one).

There’s a link above to the OSMF policy, and to quote from that “You are free to make maps from our data leaving out or putting in what you need for harmony with your general usage, culture and legal system. We encourage you to do this directly or to support one of our many worldwide local OpenStreetMap communities that share your issue”.

I’m guessing that you have a website somewhere that displays something over the top of OSMF map tiles? That’s actually not the usual way to use OSM data. Most people create their own maps or use a “background” map style from a third-party that’s better suited to your purpose. There is some “load data from OSM into a database so that you can display it” help here**. If you’d like to display the “UN” vision of this part of the world then the geometries are actually in OSM - here is Western Sahara and here is Morocco. Geometries corresponding to other claims and parts of claims are also there, if those two aren’t good enough.

** that matches what you see on openstreetmap.org. Other map technologies exist and may be more useful, depending what sort of map or app you want your customers to see.

6 Likes