Summary
The OpenStreetMap (OSM) data is categorized into three main elements: nodes, ways, and relations. The original data was in a compressed binary format. The goal of converting it into an SQLite database was to leverage the database’s search capabilities.
A search for “Costco’s” is incredibly fast, under a millisecond. The data set is a read-only data set, so there may be ways to compress the data. A search for the word “cafe’ is also incredibly fast.
The query is still sub-50ms. All this provides a read-only queryable data in a single file. The project evolved from merely transferring format to optimizing it for efficient search. This highlights the importance of iterative refinement and the power of combining different technologies.