OpenStreetMap
Updated Imagery in Gaza - Please do not Delete Features
Posted by jessiepech on 3 October 2025 in English. Last updated on 29 October 2025.Recently, ESRI World Imagery updated to include imagery from early 2025 in Gaza. Now, for the first time since the conflict escalated in October 2023, it is possible to update OSM using open satellite imagery to reflect the many features in Gaza that are destroyed or no longer standing.
If you are updating OSM in Gaza, please follow OSM lifecycle prefix conventions:
- For features (buildings, roads, etc) that are destroyed or severely damaged, please use the demolished lifecycle prefix: for example
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:demolished:building=yesorhttps://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:demolished:highway=residential. This prefix is most appropriate in Gaza. - A similar but alternative ‘destroyed’ prefix is only used for features that were destroyed by an event other than intentional demolition, such as a natural disaster. So this is most likely not appropriate in Gaza.
- Please do not delete: It is only appropriate to delete a feature if there is absolutely no trace of the original feature, and the land has been repurposed. Note that in many/all cases it will not be possible to tell if there is no trace of an object from satellite imagery, so features should be updated with a lifecycle prefix, and not deleted. See nonexistent features for more information. Eventually, if structures are rebuilt and no trace is confirmed, then deletion may become appropriate.
For now, it is important to avoid deleting features and use appropriate lifecycle tags in order to retain data OSM. In 2024, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team mapped all pre-conflict buildings in Gaza. If you need to access the full pre-conflict dataset, you can still access the data on HDX.
Thank you for the dedication in OSM, and Gaza.
Discussion
Comment from Friendly_Ghost on 3 October 2025 at 19:58
You could preserve the pre-invasion situation on a local copy, outside OSM. Then we can use OSM to map the status quo, following the guidelines as documented on the Wiki.
Comment from jessiepech on 3 October 2025 at 20:54
Hi @Friendly_Ghost, yes, there is a preserved copy of buildings representing the pre-October 2023 context mentioned at the end of the diary. I anticipate OSM contributors to edit in Gaza, just please ask OSM lifecycle prefix conventions are followed. Apologies if that was not clear.
Comment from Friendly_Ghost on 3 October 2025 at 21:52
I stand corrected. I thought this was a call for mapping the past situation instead of the present situation. That has happened before, and I’m not a fan of those ideas.
I agree with you that using lifecycle prefixes for buildings that have recently been destroyed or otherwise removed, while also mapping the present situation without a lifecycle prefix, is probably the best way forward.
Comment from esmenard on 4 October 2025 at 07:56
The page for the destroyed lifecycle prefix lacks detail, but I think that a building being destroyed during a war is much closer to a building being destoyed by a natural disaster that to a building being intentionally demolished by its owner.
Comment from SafwatHalaby on 16 October 2025 at 11:48
It’s worth noting that like all OSM data, The pre-oct 2023 state is automatically preserved in Attic data and can be accessed via the Overpass API.
See a practical example here: osm.wiki/Overpass_API/Overpass_API_by_Example#OSM_data_at_a_certain_date