# Install osmcoastline with Homebrew, apt

Extracts coastline data from OpenStreetMap planet file. Version 2.5.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-25. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install osmcoastline.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:osmcoastline
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install osmcoastline
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install osmcoastline
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: osmcoastline from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:osmcoastline
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 2.5.0
- **Source summary:** Extracts coastline data from OpenStreetMap planet file
- **Homepage:** <https://osmcode.org/osmcoastline/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/osmcode/osmcoastline>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-25T13:38:00+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- osmcoastline (alias)
- osmcoastline_filter (alias)
- osmcoastline_readmeta (alias)
- osmcoastline_segments (alias)
- osmcoastline_ways (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 2.5.0
## Project history and usage

osmcoastline extracts OpenStreetMap coastline ways from planet-scale input and assembles them into land and water polygons for renderers and data users. It handles one of OSM's oddest global data problems: editable coastline segments must become valid, usable polygons.

### Project history

Jochen Topf announced the work on March 7, 2012, while explaining the long-standing problem of turning `natural=coastline` ways into proper polygons. The same day, the osmcode/osmcoastline GitHub repository was created.

The blog post frames osmcoastline as a rewrite of an older coastcheck-based workflow that had become slow and difficult to maintain. The new implementation used Osmium to scan OSM files, assemble coastline rings, produce error information, and leave room for output options such as land polygons, water polygons, clipping, and splitting.

### Adoption history

OpenStreetMapData's coastline-processing page says OSMCoastline was developed specifically to assemble coastline data, apply fixes where needed, and create the published coastline datasets on that site. It also feeds detected coastline errors onward to Geofabrik's OSM Inspector so mappers can correct source data.

### How it is used

The man page describes `osmcoastline` as reading an input file, usually a planet file or filtered output, and writing coastline polygons to a Spatialite database. Options control overlap, gap-closing distance, warning behavior, output formats, and projection-specific details.

The repository also ships helper commands such as `osmcoastline_filter`; the README says the filter can reduce a planet file to the nodes and ways needed for coastline assembly, producing a file less than one percent of the original planet size.

### Why package nerds care

osmcoastline is a compact example of domain-specific packaging: it depends on OSM parsing, geometry libraries, Spatialite, GDAL, GEOS, zlib, and optional PBF compression details, but exposes a focused CLI for one global map-production job.

### Timeline

- 2012-03-07: Jochen Topf publishes the OSM Coastlines blog post and releases the osmcoastline code.
- The project grows around libosmium, protozero, GDAL, GEOS, SQLite/Spatialite, and PBF support.
- OpenStreetMapData uses OSMCoastline for published coastline processing and error reporting.

### Related projects

- libosmium provides OSM file handling; OpenStreetMapData publishes derived coastline datasets; Geofabrik OSM Inspector surfaces coastline errors; renderers consume the assembled land and water polygons.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/osmcode/osmcoastline>
- <https://blog.jochentopf.com/2012-03-07-osm-coastlines.html>
- <https://docs.osmcode.org/osmcoastline/master/osmcoastline.html>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/osmcoastline>
- <https://github.com/osmcode/osmcoastline>
- <https://osmcode.org/osmcoastline/>
- <https://osmdata.openstreetmap.de/processing/coastline.html>


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for osmcoastline. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.


## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - osmcoastline - 2.4.1-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: osmcoastline from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Extract coastline data from OpenStreetMap planet file | https://osmcode.org/osmcoastline/
- Ubuntu apt - osmcoastline - 2.4.0-2build4: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: osmcoastline from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Extract coastline data from OpenStreetMap planet file | https://osmcode.org/osmcoastline/


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/osmcoastline.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/osmcoastline.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph