[Resolved] Overpass API returns areas for some deleted multipolygons?

Help and support
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1

Hi,

I understand that in the Overpass API world, areas are “virtual” objects that enrich the OSM data and are added by the API to help for some use cases, and that their generation is not real time; currently areas seem to have been last generated on May 20th on overpass-api.de which I use.

I have a query on the Overpass API that returns areas that refer to multipolygons that were deleted more than a year ago; two examples, the first for the Amedée-Roy Stadium and the second for the Kiwanis Park:

{
  "type": "area",
  "id": 3611605371,
  "tags": {
    "leisure": "stadium",
    "name": "Stade Amédée-Roy",
    "sport": "baseball",
    "type": "multipolygon"
  }
},
{
  "type": "area",
  "id": 3613545847,
  "tags": {
    "landuse": "recreation_ground",
    "name": "Parc Kiwanis",
    "type": "multipolygon"
  }
},

I’m first wondering, is it expected to receive such stale data from the Overpass API?

Then I’m wondering, did I do something wrong that created that situation?

Those two deletions were done by me, using the josm software to turn (trivial) multipolygons into ways (via the “Reconstruct polygon” feature part of the Relation Toolbox (reltoolbox) plugin). Perhaps the plugin is not thorough in deleting the original multipolygon? Perhaps there is an extra step I should take care of to avoid leaving dangling data behind?

I don’t think the query I send to the API is relevant to the issue, but for sure I can paste it here if you feel it will help.

Thank you for your time and answers,

2

Maybe the changed area data did not make it to the Overpass-Server

PTNA did a query and there is a discrepancy

OSM-Base Time : 2025-03-17 22:00:53 UTC
Areas Time : 2024-12-31 00:49:33 UTC

Did you check the first 10 lines of the XML and JSON data or the last lines of the JSON for this?

3

Got this at the beginning of the JSON document:

  "version": 0.6,
  "generator": "Overpass API 0.7.62.5 1bd436f1",
  "osm3s": {
    "timestamp_osm_base": "2025-06-07T20:10:57Z",
    "timestamp_areas_base": "2025-05-20T05:45:31Z",
    "copyright": "The data included in this document is from www.openstreetmap.org. The data is made available under ODbL."
  },

So in theory areas should be up-to-date when it comes to modifications older than a year ago.

4

This issue seems to be up to the Overpass API server instance chosen for the query.

On at least one other server (VK Maps), the areas pointing to long-deleted multipolygons are gone.

As the behavior is not systematic, I’ll mark this as resolved.