Organised Editing/Activities/TomTom/Global - Building Height Imports/Germany - Berlin Umweltatlas Building Heights Import

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Overview

TomTom, in consultation with the German OpenStreetMap community, is preparing a community-reviewed import to enrich existing OSM building footprints in Berlin with missing height=* values. The heights are derived from the Gebäudehöhen (Umweltatlas) dataset published by the Senatsverwaltung Berlin. This activity is part of the TomTom Global Building Height Imports programme.

Community discussion

Announcements

Date Forum post Subject Posted by
11 May 2026 Post #1 Initial community discussion (EN + DE): TomTom intent to enrich OSM buildings in Berlin with height=* from Gebäudehöhen (Umweltatlas). Feedback requested. Salim Baidoun (TomTom)
26 May 2026 Post #8 Source preference question (EN + DE): which source does the community prefer for Berlin, ALKIS or Umweltatlas? Salim Baidoun (TomTom)
19 June 2026 Post #19 Pilot 1 notification (EN + DE): 20 buildings, height only, under community supervision. Height definition addressed: Umweltatlas Firsthöhe = Laserscan to roof apex, matches OSM convention. Salim Baidoun (TomTom)
23 June 2026 Post #20 Pilot 1 completed (EN + DE): 20 buildings tagged with height=* across 2 changesets (184469646, 184469647). Community review window open. Salim Baidoun (TomTom)
24 June 2026 Post #23 Reply to community feedback on data quality (EN + DE): response to concerns raised at post #22 (Aachen NRW LoD2 experiment). Clarified that Berlin Umweltatlas Gebäudehöhen is LiDAR-derived Firsthöhe and is a different product from NRW LoD2. Reaffirmed the revert offer, willingness to stop if the community is not comfortable. Salim Baidoun (TomTom)
24 June 2026 Post #24 Reply on height precision (EN + DE): response to the precision point raised at post #21. Committed to round the source value to one decimal place from the next batch onwards, matching the publisher's documented accuracy (about one metre) and standard OSM practice. No automated re-run on the 20 already-written pilot buildings; manual per-building adjustment offered if the community asks. Salim Baidoun (TomTom)

Source

ALKIS Berlin Gebäude was evaluated in parallel and might be used for QA cross-check only. ALKIS does not carry metric heights, so it cannot close the primary OSM Berlin gap. The Umweltatlas geschosse field is inherited from ALKIS aog at 99.8% exact agreement on 518,188 buildings.

Pilot 1

Status: completed on 23 June 2026, height only, 20 buildings.

Characteristics of the pilot set:

  • 20 OSM buildings spread across Berlin
  • Heights from 4.2 m to 20.3 m (mean 12.9 m)
  • Storeys from 1 to 4 (mean 2.8)
  • Source attribute on all 20: Umweltatlas hoehe = Firsthöhe from airborne Laserscan
  • Match confidence: overlap above 99% on the sample inspected

Sample of buildings (first five of 20):

Full list of the 20 OSM way IDs is in the pilot dataset linked below.

Pilot dataset: Berlin_add_heights_20_buildings.ods on the OSM wiki. Sheet 1 lists the 20 OSM way IDs with their proposed height=* values, storeys, overlap and area ratio. Sheet 2 is a summary card.

Pilot import result:

Pilot 1 import summary
Item Value
Date of import 23 June 2026
Edit account User:TTmechanicalupdates
Changesets 184469646, 184469647
Buildings tagged with height=* 20
Buildings rejected by conflation rules 0
Status All edits uploaded successfully. Community review window open.

All Pilot 1 edits are visible on the account history: TTmechanicalupdates edit history and on the HDYC heatmap.

If a problem is identified on any of the 20 buildings, the relevant changeset will be reverted on request, no discussion.

Editing account

All automated edits are performed under the dedicated User:TTmechanicalupdates account on OpenStreetMap; see Automated edits/TTmechanicalupdates.

Status

  • Source data analysis: complete
  • Proposed Source decision (Umweltatlas single source): 3 June 2026
  • Community consultation: open since 11 May 2026 on the forum thread above
  • Pilot 1 notification: posted 19 June 2026 (post /19)
  • Pilot 1 (20 buildings, height only): completed 23 June 2026; community review window open
  • Community dialogue: active. Replies posted at /23 (data quality, Berlin vs NRW LoD2 clarification) and /24 (commitment to round source values to one decimal place from the next batch onwards). See Announcements section.
  • Open community request (post /25): publish a pre-write QA pipeline that cross-checks proposed height=* against existing OSM building:levels=* and other plausibility metrics before any further write. Internal action in progress.
  • Phased rollout: TBD

Contact

See also

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