OpenStreetMap Places & POI Scraper

Extract Points of Interest (POIs) and business listings from OpenStreetMap using the free Overpass API. Search by location, category, or keyword — no API key or account required.

Note: This actor was originally designed as an Apple Maps scraper. Apple Maps requires a paid Apple Developer Server API key and its website (maps.apple.com) is a JS-SPA that returns no data without a browser session. OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API provides equivalent (or richer) globally-structured POI data completely free.

Features

• Search POIs by free-text query (e.g. "Starbucks", "Italian restaurant")
• Filter by 33 OSM categories (cafe, restaurant, hotel, hospital, school, etc.)
• Set search radius from 100 m to 50 km
• Returns: name, category, address, coordinates (lat/lon), phone, website, opening hours, OSM link
• Geocoding via Nominatim — just type a city name or address
• No API key, no login, no proxy required

Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	select	search (free-text) or nearbySearch (category browse)
searchQuery	string	Text to search in place names (used in search mode)
location	string	City or address to search near (e.g. "London", "Paris, France")
category	select	OSM category filter (cafe, restaurant, hotel, etc.)
radius	integer	Search radius in metres (100–50000, default 1000)
maxItems	integer	Max places to return (1–1000, default 20)

Output

Each record contains:

Field	Description
placeId	OSM node/way/relation ID (e.g. osm:node/123456)
name	Place name
category	OSM amenity/shop/tourism category
address	Street address from OSM tags
lat	Latitude
lon	Longitude
phone	Phone number
website	Website URL
openingHours	Opening hours (OSM format, e.g. "Mo-Fr 07:00-20:00")
cuisine	Cuisine type (restaurants/cafes)
brand	Brand name
wheelchair	Wheelchair accessibility (yes/no/limited)
url	OpenStreetMap permalink
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp

Example Input

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "coffee shops",
  "location": "London",
  "maxItems": 10
}

Example Output

{
  "placeId": "osm:node/4321765",
  "name": "Costa Coffee",
  "category": "cafe",
  "address": "10 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1BS",
  "lat": 51.5074,
  "lon": -0.1278,
  "phone": "+44 20 7946 0000",
  "website": "https://www.costa.co.uk",
  "openingHours": "Mo-Fr 07:00-20:00; Sa-Su 08:00-18:00",
  "brand": "Costa Coffee",
  "url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4321765",
  "recordType": "place",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-05-22T10:00:00+00:00"
}

Supported Categories

Cafe, Restaurant, Fast Food, Bar, Pub, Hotel, Hostel, Motel, Hospital, Clinic, Pharmacy, Dentist, School, University, Library, Bank, ATM, Supermarket, Convenience Store, Bakery, Clothes Shop, Hairdresser, Parking, Fuel/Petrol Station, Gym/Fitness Centre, Park, Museum, Cinema, Theatre, Police, Post Office, Place of Worship.

FAQ

Is this free? Yes. The Overpass API is completely free with no rate limits for reasonable use. No API key, no billing.

How accurate is the data? OpenStreetMap is crowd-sourced and updated by millions of contributors. Data quality varies by region but is generally excellent in Europe, North America, and major cities globally.

What does "opening_hours" format mean? OSM uses a standardized format: Mo-Fr 09:00-17:00; Sa 10:00-14:00. Many parsers can interpret this directly.

Can I search globally? Yes. OSM covers the entire world. Just set location to any city or country.

Why OpenStreetMap instead of Apple Maps? Apple Maps requires a paid Apple Developer account for server-side API access. OSM is free, open, and programmatically accessible without restrictions.

What's the maximum results? Up to 1000 per run. For large city-wide scans, increase radius to 5000–10000m.