Error Messages

Cryptic error messages

Sometimes JOSM displays rather cryptic error messages. For instance, JOSM used to display

Bad Request Error header: Placeholder node not found for reference -13 in way -12 (Kode=400)

Usually, these are error messages generated by the OSM server. There isn't an exhaustive specification of possible error messages generated by the OSM server and in general JOSM can't know what error messages it has to deal with.

JOSM does it's best to transform cryptic error messages into a more user friendly text (including translation). Please let the the JOSM team know if cryptic and/or untranslated messages show up. Developers will then try to transform them into a more user-friendly message.

Error and warning dialogs

Unknown host

When you download data from or upload data to the OSM server JOSM tries to establish a connection with the OSM server. If it can't resolve its host name, it displays the following error message:

How to resolve

• check the URL displayed in the dialog (in the example above it's http://nosuchhost.openstreetmap.org/api)
• make sure in your preferences the OSM Server settings include a valid URL to the OSM server. The standard URL is https://api.openstreetmap.org/api.

Can't initialize OSM API

When you download data from or upload data to the OSM server JOSM tries to establish a connection with the OSM server configured in the preferences. If JOSM can connect but if it detects that there isn't a supported OSM server on the other end it displays the following error message:

How to resolve

• check the URL displayed in the dialog (in the example above it's http://api07.dev.openstreetmap.org/api)
• make sure in your preferences the OSM Server settings include a valid URL to the OSM server. The standard URL is https://api.openstreetmap.org/api.

Network unavailable

When you download data from or upload data to the OSM server JOSM tries to establish a connection with the OSM server configured in the preferences. JOSM displays the following error messages if there's a problem with your Internet connection:

How to resolve

• make sure your computer is connected to the Internet. Can you open the URL ​https://www.openstreetmap.org in your preferred web browser?

Internal server error

When you download data from or upload data to the OSM server JOSM tries to establish a connection with the OSM server configured in the preferences. JOSM displays the following error messages if an error occurs on the remote OSM server:

How to resolve

• This is most likely a temporary problem. You're advised to retry uploading or downloading after a short period of time.

Imagery: Error loading Bing attributions

To use the Bing aerial pictures, JOSM has to download the Bing aerial attributions first.
This download can fail due to connection problems. JOSM shows you the message: Error loading Bing attributions, at the bottom right corner of the main window:

How to resolve

• Use a proxy-server. (Look for a http proxy list in the world-wild-net).
• Go to the preferences (F12) and set up JOSM to use a proxy under Proxy settings.
• If it does not work try a different proxy from the list.
• The attributions are only downloaded once. JOSM keeps them for one day. This means you might want to revert your preference in order to not use the proxy once Bing works.

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