Count features without downloading them

out count; returns just the numbers: total, nodes, ways and relations. It is fast and tiny, ideal for statistics and dashboards.

The query

[out:json][timeout:60];
area["name"="Wien"]["admin_level"="4"]->.a;
node["natural"="tree"](area.a);
out count;

Run it

Live result from overpass.ch, cached for up to 12 hours. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

How it works

1. The search runs as usual; only the output is replaced by a count.
2. The answer is a single element of type count with the numbers as tags.

Variations

• Count per value of a tag: see count values of a tag.
• Count several things in one query: add more statements, each followed by out count;.

Run it from your code

curl https://api.overpass.ch/v1/YOUR_API_KEY/interpreter \
  --data-urlencode 'data@query.overpassql'

import requests

query = open("query.overpassql").read()
r = requests.post("https://api.overpass.ch/v1/YOUR_API_KEY/interpreter",
                  data={"data": query}, timeout=120)
r.raise_for_status()
print(r.json()["elements"][:3])

const res = await fetch("https://api.overpass.ch/v1/YOUR_API_KEY/interpreter", {
  method: "POST",
  body: new URLSearchParams({ data: query }),
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(await res.text());
console.log(await res.json());

Save the query as query.overpassql. It works the same in Overpass Turbo, QGIS and JOSM.