OsmAnd-UK postcodes

Script to create a UK-postcodes POI obf file for OsmAnd.

As of September 2017 I dropped the address files.
They are hard to create and very slow. The new general search screen in Osmand is ideal for the POI OBF. Simply type something like 'ct14 8eu' or 'EX34 7EX' (uppercase or lowercase) in the white bar in the top of the search screen, and it will find the postcode(s).

Note that the script does not contain the final OsmAndMapCreator step. For the POI file you only need to create a POI index.

How to use

POI postcode file United-Kingdom_postcodes_poi_europe.obf

Simply search for one of the 1.74 million postcodes in the UK via the white bar in the top of the search screen. The Postcodes are stored as user_defined_other_postcode. If you want to display them (always) on the map, use that POI filter. Note: These postcodes are POIs. It means that you can't use the postcode address search from the address pane. The postcodes in that screen are real postcodes connected to addresses.
My postcodes POI file contains POIs with coordinates with the name of a postcode. Actually the same as searching for "Tower Bridge", "Eiffel tower" or likewise POIs.

How to create

Requirements Linux/OS X/BSD: python (standard installed) and sqlite3. Use your favorite package manager.
Requirements Windows: Python.

• Clone my repository or download the zip from here.
• Open a terminal (linux) or command box (windows).
• Inside the folder where you cloned or unzipped the zip file do:
  • Windows: python create_pc_osm.py
  • Linux: ./create_pc_osm.py

After some time you will find inside the "workdir" the file "UK_postcodes_poi_europe.osm.pbf". You can create your OsmAnd obf file in OsmAndMapCreator.

• Open the OsmAndMapCreator.bat or OsmAndMapCreator.sh
• Change the value "-Xmx720M" to something like "-Xmx2720M" (at least 2500M).
• Save the file and start the .bat or .sh
• Switch off all map options except "build POI index"
• Open the file from the workdir. After some time you will have the "Uk_postcodes_poi_europe.obf" of around 98~100MB in the osmand data folder. By default this is the folder "osmand" in your home folder. Copy that obffile into your OsmAnd files folder where your other maps files are also located.