#495: OSMnx: Python and OpenStreetMap

02/24/25 • 61 min

2 Listeners

On this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Geoff Boeing, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California whose research spans urban planning, spatial analysis, and data science. We explore why OpenStreetMap is such a powerful source of global map data—and how Geoff's Python library, OSMnx, makes that data easier to download, model, and visualize. Along the way, we talk about what shapes city streets around the world, how urban design influences everything from daily commutes to disaster resilience, and why turning open data into accessible tools can open up completely new ways of understanding our cities. If you've ever wondered how to build or analyze your own digital maps in Python, or what it takes to manage a project that transforms raw geographic data into meaningful research, you won't want to miss this conversation.
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Links from the show

City Street Orientations World: geoffboeing.com
OSMnx Documentation: readthedocs.io
OSMnx GitHub: github.com
OpenStreetMap: openstreetmap.org
Open Database License: opendatacommons.org
ID Editor (Web Editor): wiki.openstreetmap.org
Planet OSM: planet.openstreetmap.org
Overpass API: wiki.openstreetmap.org
GeoPandas: geopandas.org
NetworkX: networkx.org
Shapely: shapely.readthedocs.io
Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com
Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm
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Links from the show

Previous Episode

#494: Update on Flet: Python + Flutter UIs

As Python developers, we're incredibly lucky to have over half a million packages that we can use to build our applications with over at PyPI. However, when it comes to choosing a UI framework, the options get narrowed down very quickly. Intersect those choices with the ones that work on mobile, and you have a very short list. Flutter is a UI framework for building desktop and mobile applications, and is in fact the one that we used to build the Talk Python courses app, you'd find at talkpython.fm/apps. That's why I'm so excited about Flet. Flet is a Python UI framework that is distributed and executed on the Flutter framework, making it possible to build mobile apps and desktop apps with Python. We have Feodor Fitsner back on the show after he launched his project a couple years ago to give us an update on how close they are to a full featured mobile app framework in Python.
Episode sponsors
Posit
Python in Production
Talk Python Courses

Links from the show

Flet: flet.dev
Flet on Github: github.com
Packaging apps with Flet: flet.dev/docs/publish
Flutter: flutter.dev
React vs. Flutter: trends.stackoverflow.co
Kivy: kivy.org
Beeware: beeware.org
Mobile forge from Beeware: github.com
The list of built-in binary wheels: flet.dev/docs/publish/android#binary-python-packages
Difference between dynamic and static Flet web apps: flet.dev/docs/publish/web
Integrating Flutter packages: flet.dev/docs/extend/integrating-existing-flutter-packages
serious_python: pub.dev/packages/serious_python
Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com
Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm
--- Stay in touch with us ---
Subscribe to Talk Python on YouTube: youtube.com
Talk Python on Bluesky: @talkpython.fm at bsky.app
Talk Python on Mastodon: talkpython
Michael on Bluesky: @mkennedy.codes at bsky.app
Michael on Mastodon: mkennedy

Next Episode

#496: Scaf: Complete blueprint for new Python Kubernetes projects

Today we explore the wild world of Python deployment with my friend, Calvin Hendryx-Parker from Six Feet Up. We’ll tackle some of the biggest challenges in taking a Python app from “it works on my machine” to production, covering inconsistent environments, conflicting dependencies, and sneaky security pitfalls. Along the way, Calvin shares how containerization with Docker and Kubernetes can both simplify and complicate deployments, especially for smaller teams. Finally, we’ll introduce Scaf, a powerful project blueprint designed to give developers a rock-solid start on Python web projects of all sizes.
Get notified when the Talk Python in Production book goes live and read the first third online right now.
Episode sponsors
Posit
Python in Production
Talk Python Courses

Links from the show

Calvin Hendryx-Parker: github.com
Scaf on GitHub: github.com
Scaf on GitHub (duplicate): github.com
"Deploy the Dream" song: deploy-the-dream-talk-python.mp3
CloudDevEngineering YouTube Channel: youtube.com
TechWorld with Nana YouTube Channel: youtube.com
Tilt (Kubernetes Dev Tool): tilt.dev
Talos (Minimal OS for Kubernetes): talos.dev
Traefik Reverse Proxy: traefik.io
Sealed Secrets on GitHub: github.com
Argo CD Documentation: readthedocs.io
MailHog on GitHub: github.com
Next.js: nextjs.org
Cloud Custodian: cloudcustodian.io
Valkey (Redis Replacement): valkey.io
“The ‘Works on My Machine’ Certification Program” (Coding Horror): blog.codinghorror.com
NVIDIA’s First Desktop AI PC (Ars Technica): arstechnica.com
Kind (Kubernetes in Docker): kind.sigs.k8s.io
Updated Effective PyCharm Course: training.talkpython.fm
Talk Python in Production book: talkpython.fm/books/python-in-production
Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com
Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm
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