Nominatim
Server application for geocoding (address -> coordinates) and reverse geocoding (coordinates -> address) on OpenStreetMap data.
Maintained, but at a slower pace than the leaders in its category.
Commit activity more than 64% of tracked projects; popularity more than 65%. How this is calculated.
Commits, last 11 months
| Stars | 4.5k |
|---|---|
| Latest release | v5.3.2 · 19 Apr 2026 |
| Repo updated | 16 Sept 2026 |
| Licence | GPL-2.0 |
| Built with | C |
Is Nominatim actively maintained?
Over the last 11 months the project absorbed 501 commits, of which 123 arrived in the most recent quarter — roughly 41 commits a month.
The most recent tagged release, v5.3.2, is about 5 months old.
Nominatim ranks #11 of 20 in Maps and Global Positioning System (GPS), placing it mid-table for maintenance activity.
What Nominatim actually does
Nominatim is a server application that processes OpenStreetMap data to handle geocoding and reverse geocoding requests. It translates postal addresses into geographic coordinates and converts coordinates back into readable location data. This self-hosted service allows applications to perform mapping lookups locally without relying on external third-party APIs.
Best fit: Self-hosters and developers building location-based services who require a private, local endpoint for address lookup and coordinate translation.
Worth knowing: Setting up the full planet dataset requires substantial storage space and significant initial processing time to import the geographical data correctly.
Deployment notes
As a compiled application processing large spatial datasets, it typically requires a dedicated database backend and persistent storage volumes for optimal performance.
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