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Diff queries fail with out of memory error #770
Description
A complex diff query that I've been using successfully for some time is now failing. The failures happen on both the public instances as well as a private server that I run.
The query is below. It returns a list of certain types of streets which have changed in city 191230.
[timeout:1800][out:xml][diff:"2025-12-06T00:00:00Z"];
area(3600191230)->.city;
(
way(area.city)[name][highway~"^(trunk|primary|secondary)$"][expressway=yes];
way(area.city)[name][highway~"^(trunk|primary|secondary)$"][motorroad=yes];
way(area.city)[ref][highway~"^(trunk|primary|secondary)$"][expressway=yes];
way(area.city)[ref][highway~"^(trunk|primary|secondary)$"][motorroad=yes];
)->.expressways;
(
way(area.city)
[name]
[highway ~ "^(trunk|primary|secondary|tertiary|unclassified|residential|living_street|pedestrian|cycleway)$"]
[expressway != yes][motorroad != yes];
way(area.city)
[ref]
[highway ~ "^(trunk|primary|secondary|tertiary|unclassified|residential|living_street|pedestrian|cycleway)$"]
[expressway != yes][motorroad != yes];
);
(
._;
way(area.city)[name][highway=service][foot=yes][bicycle=yes];
way(area.city)[name][highway=service][service=alley];
way[sidewalk~"^(yes|separate)$"].expressways;
way["sidewalk:left"~"^(yes|separate)$"].expressways;
way["sidewalk:right"~"^(yes|separate)$"].expressways;
way["sidewalk:both"~"^(yes|separate)$"].expressways;
);
(
._;
//Remove trunk roads with no shoulder/sidewalk, unless explicitly tagged foot=yes
- way[highway=trunk][sidewalk ~ "^(no|none)$"][shoulder = no][foot != yes]._;
);
(
._;
//Remove private roads unless explicitly foot=yes
- way[access ~ "^(private|customers|no)$"][foot!=yes]._;
);
(
._;
//Remove areas
- way[area = yes]._;
);
(
._;
//Remove indoor
- way[indoor = yes]._;
);
(
._;
//Remove foot=no roads unless there's a sidewalk
- way[foot ~ "^(no|private|discouraged)$"]
[sidewalk!~"^(yes|separate)$"]
["sidewalk:left"!~"^(yes|separate)$"]
["sidewalk:right"!~"^(yes|separate)$"]
["sidewalk:both"!~"^(yes|separate)$"]._;
);
(._;>;);
out body;
Activity
mmd-osm commentedon Dec 22, 2025
You could bump the default memory settings by adding
[maxsize:2G]in the first line of your query. Try different maxsize values on your local instance first. The public instance is likely too busy for bigger memory limits.ZeLonewolf commentedon Dec 22, 2025
It will be over a week before I can test again. I did try setting larger maxsize values, and from my recollection I got immediate exception responses. Is there a server setting outside the query that's needed for larger maxsize values? Will report back once I have more data.
mmd-osm commentedon Dec 22, 2025
The dispatcher has a total space limit across all queries. You can update it via the following command line parameter:
To check the current value, you need to run
dispatcher --statusThe current value is reported back as
Total available spaceZeLonewolf commentedon Jan 1, 2026
I've rebuilt my overpass server from scratch, on a fresh new (larger) hard drive. I am still getting this error.
I set the --space= value to 10GB
This system has 32G of RAM and 120G of swap available.
I set [maxsize:2G] and got:
This should be a small and pretty fast query that returns within a few seconds, as this is not a large city.
ZeLonewolf commentedon Jan 1, 2026
I was finally able to get this to run by setting [maxsize:5G]. This seems excessively large for what this query does.