This page is incomplete. See "TODO"s. Screenshot is outdated.

Filter panel

Keyboard shortcut: Alt+Shift+F — one of the JOSM panels

The filter panel allows the user to temporarily disable and optionally hide certain types of objects based on one (or multiple) filters.

Filtered objects

• not selectable using selection tools (with few minor exceptions in #4929, see comment 14)
• not returned during Search action
• will disappear from several menus until filters are disabled (example)

Use cases

Simple usage is to enter single tag (or more complex expression similar to search) in "Text" column: objects complying with that text will be disabled.

More complex scenarios include filters as quick way to develop and test custom validator rules.

Usability

• De-clutter main view by (de-)activating features only when you need them. This allows for easier editing in areas with densely located objects or infrastructure.
• Completely hide features you don't use.
• Avoid unnecessary or accidental edits.

Productivity

• Disable/separate objects that were fully tagged (using tag count and custom filters) from incomplete objects
• Disable recently modified objects (and it is irrelevant: if it modified by you or another person)
• Untagged objects untagged can be used instead of Notes at ​openstreetmap.org. It is faster than to set/remove fixme=resurvey - please don't overuse this principle

Overview

The filter lines are evaluated from top down, with respect to values in Columns.

Columns

• E (Enable): Enable or disable this filter line.
• H (Hide elements from main view): normally, all matched objects are disabled, but you can completely hide them:
  • disabled - visible and displayed as grey
  • hidden - the chosen objects are completely hidden
• Text: The search term or property that defines the objects that are filtered. Every search query from Search action is supported:
  • standard substring search (or exact search with "quotes")
  • Regular expressions (​Java Regex)
  • MapCSS syntax
• I (Inverse Filter): Normally, the specified objects are hidden and the rest is shown. If this option is activated, only the specified objects are shown and the rest is hidden.
• M (Filter Mode) - how a filter line is combined with filter lines above filter line in question:
  • R (replace selection) - effectively disable all filter lines above
  • A (add to selection) - most users want this, filter lines with this mode are independent of each other
  • D (remove from selection) - un-filter all elements matched
  • F (find in selection) - TODO

The list can by ordered by clicking on the table headers.

Control buttons

TODO explain 7 buttons.

Keyboard shortcuts

Additional to the checkbox in the filter panel, enabling or disabling filters is possible with keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl+Alt+E plus [1-9,0,A-Z] toggles the corresponding filter on or off, counting from the top of the list. If unsure, Ctrl+Alt+E only, without addition, will show a list of available shortcuts.

Filter warning

If any filter is active, and at least one object was filtered, a transparent message box will appear in the top right corner of main view.

The message has the title Filter active and displays the number of disabled objects.

Examples

Filter text	Description or note
((landuse: | natural: | leisure: | building:) | (role:outer | role:inner))	Doesn't handle relations perfectly
shop=* opening_hours=*	shop= + opening_hours= tagged objects
shop=* name=*	shop= + name= tagged objects
type:node -shop=*	All nodes except shops. Geometry modification using mouse move disabled, but possible using other modes (ex. - Improve Way Accuracy mode (W))
(type:node | type:way | type:relation) (modified | user:Steve)	Hide objects if you are the latest editor (useful during mass re-tagging and semi-mechanical edits)
-highway:	Everything except highway= tagged objects
man_made=pipeline	Pipelines
natural=water	Water objects
admin_level:	Admin boundaries
boundary: | leisure: | landuse: | waterway: | amenity: | natural: | building:	De-clutters map, aggressive (sometimes you may want to keep buildings or amenity key)
type:node & untagged	Make it easier to select ways
modified	Quickly see your changes
child (type:way & highway:)	All nodes that's part of a highway
child (type:relation & (natural: | landuse:))	All natural and landuse areas formed by relations
-((highway | child highway | untagged | public_transport) & -(highway=footway | highway=path | highway=steps | highway=track))	Only roads for public transport. Good for mapping bus networks.

See also other examples. If you have some clever filters, add them here.

Auto filters

Auto filters automatically adds filter buttons in the top left corner of the map view for special keys. This needs to be enabled in the OSM Data settings. These buttons only appear if there is at least one object tagged with the respective tag within the mapview. See the following screencast on how to enable and use the filter buttons. Above the filter buttons the key which is currently used for the autofilter is displayed (not yet shown in the screencast). A click on that button leads to the preferences where you can change the key.

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