# getting data
When you want to get the most recent OpenStreetMap data, the easiest way is to download an extract from a website. There are various web services that provide data extracts for an area of your choosing.
## Downloading Data Extracts
### GeoFabrik
[GeoFabrik](http://geofabrik.de) is a company which specializes in working with OpenStreetMap. They provide a variety of free extracts in shapefile and raw OSM format on their [download website](http://download.geofabrik.de). The advantage of downloading GeoFabrik data is that it is updated every day, and it's easy and reliable. One disadvantage is that the data is extracted by country, and not all countries are available.
### Metro Extracts
[Another website created by Michal Migurksi](http://metro.teczno.com/) provides shapefiles for cities around the world. This is useful if you are looking for data extracts for a single city. The disadvantage to this site is that it is not updated regularly.
> Remember that features in OpenStreetMap have an unlimited number of "free" tags, but shapefiles have attributes stored in a limited number of columns. This means that when OSM data is converted into shapefiles, only the specified tags will be included in the shapefile table. The websites listed above provide shapefiles with a default set of common tags, but if you want to extract specific tags you will need to use one of the more specialized services in the next section or learn how to export the data yourself.
## Customized Extracts
### HOT Exports
The [Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team](http://hotosm.org) has created a service that allows users to select the area that they want to extract, and also use [JOSM Presets](https://github.com/osm-tw/learnosm-tw/tree/c2ea9b469ebd084abe1e86650f91b3f3418814f8/en/editing/josm-presets/README.md) to select custom tags to be included in the extract. The service is available to all countries where HOT works, at [export.hotosm.org](http://export.hotosm.org).
### BBBike
You can select your own area from any part of the world using the service at . The only disadvantage is that you aren't able to select customizable tags.
## Summary
The services mentioned in this chapter are all that the average user needs to get the OSM data they want and be able to work with it in GIS software. However, you may want to learn more powerful ways of working with the data yourself. The remaining chapters in this section are quite technical, but show more advanced methods of manipulating and accessing OSM data.
---
# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.
Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:
```
GET https://osm-tw.gitbook.io/learnosm-tw/0600-12-31-osm-data/0600-12-15-getting-data.md?ask=
```
The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.
Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.