The files in here are extracts of the full-history OpenStreetMap dumps [1]. They contain multiple versions of an object. If you just want the map-data as it is currently, use the Geofabrik-Extracts [2]. The files in this folder are generated using MaZderMind's history splitter [3]. 110418/: Extracts generated from [5] 110418/hardcut-bbox-xml/: Extracts generated using simple bboxes in hardcut mode, stored in xml, partitally compressed with bz2 110418/hardcut-bbox-pbf/: Extracts generated using simple bboxes in hardcut mode, stored in history-pbf-format later, maybe, other files will be added, eg. cutted with polygons. the files currently online are cutted in hardcut-mode. They have the following characteristics: features: - ways are cropped at bbox boundaries - relations contain only members that exist in the extract - ways and relations are reference-complete - relations referring to relations that come later in the file are missing this references - ways that have only one node inside the bbox are missing from the output - only versions of an object that are inside the bboxes are in thr extract, some versions of an object may be missing You can read more about the used algorithm by looking at the documentation at the top of the sourcecode [4]. Regarding reading the pbf-files, please read the Mailing-List Posting [6] which will guide you to the definition and the library used to create those files. If you have questions or problems with the extracts, just drop a mail to . [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]