[ENHANCEMENT] Aug release updates

blog/2026-08-19-release-notes.mdx

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+---
+title: 2026-08-19 release notes
+tags:
+  - releases
+---
+import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
+import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';
+import QueryBuilder from '@site/src/components/queryBuilder';
+
+
+## Overview
+
+**The `2026-08-19.0` release of Overture data and `v1.18.0` of the Overture schema are now available.** You can access the datasets, changelog, GERS registry, bridge files, and PMTiles on AWS and Azure at the paths listed below.
+
+
+## Deprecations
+
+The `categories` property in the places schema has been deprecated and will be removed in the **September 2026** release, replaced by the new `basic_category` and `taxonomy` properties. All three properties will be available until then to ease the transition for our users. The taxonomy documentation is [here](https://docs.overturemaps.org/guides/places/taxonomy/).
+
+
+## Getting the data and release artifacts
+
+You can access this month's data and release artifacts by following the process outlined in our [docs](/getting-data). We encourage you to ask questions and provide feedback on the Overture Maps [Discussion forum on GitHub](https://github.com/orgs/OvertureMaps/discussions). You can also file issues and report bugs in our [data](https://github.com/OvertureMaps/data/issues) and [schema](https://github.com/OvertureMaps/schema/issues) repositories. If you have a suggestion for a new dataset or if you have data you'd like to contribute to Overture, you can email us at community@overturemaps.org. We’d love to hear from you.
+
+
+
+### Release data
+
+**Microsoft Azure:**
+```
+https://overturemapswestus2.blob.core.windows.net/release/2026-08-19.0/
+```
+
+**Amazon S3:**
+```
+s3://overturemaps-us-west-2/release/2026-08-19.0/
+```
+### Data changelog
+
+**Microsoft Azure:**
+```
+https://overturemapswestus2.blob.core.windows.net/changelog/2026-08-19.0/
+```
+
+**Amazon S3:**
+```
+s3://overturemaps-us-west-2/changelog/2026-08-19.0/
+```
+
+
+### Bridge files
+
+**Microsoft Azure:**
+```
+https://overturemapswestus2.blob.core.windows.net/bridgefiles/2026-08-19.0/
+```
+
+**Amazon S3:**
+```
+s3://overturemaps-us-west-2/bridgefiles/2026-08-19.0/
+```
+
+### GERS registry
+
+
+**Microsoft Azure:**
+```
+https://overturemapswestus2.blob.core.windows.net/registry/
+```
+
+**Amazon S3:**
+```
+s3://overturemaps-us-west-2/registry/
+```
+
+### PMTiles
+
+**Amazon S3:**
+```
+s3://overturemaps-extras-us-west-2/tiles/2026-08-19.0/
+```
+
+{/* truncate */}
+
+
+## Theme-specific updates
+
+:::info
+The base, buildings, divisions, places, and transportation themes are in GA. The addresses theme is in alpha. 
+:::
+
+### Addresses
+
+| Type | Public | Candidate | Change |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| address | 472,703,893 | 472,797,160 | +0.02% |
+
+**Highlights**:
+- Refreshed data inputs from Fresno County, CA and Statistics Canada, with richer attribute completeness.
+- LINZ (New Zealand) and ICAR each added several thousand more address points.
+
+
+### Base
+
+| Type | July Count | August Count | Change |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| bathymetry | 59,963 | 59,963* | +0.16% |
+| infrastructure | 152,764,281 | 155,513,336 | +1.80% |
+| land | 74,406,750 | 75,614,496 | +1.62% |
+| land_cover | 123,302,114 | 123,302,114 | +0.00% |
+| land_use | 54,929,853 | 55,617,746 | +1.25% |
+| water | 65,202,361 | 65,738,273 | +0.82% |
+
+**Highlights**:
+- Transit infrastructure grew: `parking`, `parking_space`, `bus_stop`, `stop_position`, and `bicycle_parking` counts are up compared to the July release.
+- Mountain landforms grew in every class: `peak`, `ridge`, `saddle`, `mountain_range`, and `volcano`.
+
+> * Note: the August changelog incorrectly identifies 60,060 bathymetry features as `added`; this should be 0.
+
+
+### Buildings
+
+| Type | July Count | August Count | Change |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| building | 2,545,162,734 | 2,529,582,613 | -0.61% |
+| building_part | 4,277,018 | 4,339,150 | +1.45% |
+
+**Highlights**:
+- Microsoft ML Buildings (+13.09M) and OpenStreetMap (+3.81M) both grew in coverage.
+- Hundreds of thousands of buildings picked up updated `num_floors`, `height`, and `roof_shape` values.
+
+
+### Divisions
+
+| Type | July Count | August Count | Change |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| division | 4,655,003 | 4,658,700 | +0.08% |
+| division_area | 1,073,093 | 1,074,177 | +0.10% |
+| division_boundary | 87,537 | 87,533 | -0.00% |
+
+**Highlights**:
+- Geometry refinements were the top source of updates compared to the July release.
+- Reclassified some microhoods to neighborhoods in Vietnam.
+
+
+### Places
+
+| Type | July Count | August Count | Change |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| place | 74,223,561 | 73,631,092 | -0.80% |
+
+**Highlights**:
+- BrightQuery nearly tripled its US contribution (+175%, +1.46M places); AllThePlaces grew +13.4% (+190,735 places).
+- Major taxonomy and category updates for improved clarity.
+- `operating_status` detail improved: 1.64M more places are now flagged with an "open" status.
+
+
+### Transportation
+
+#### Output Stats
+
+| Dataset | Feature Count | Length (km) |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| OpenStreetMap | 759,581,630 | 94,707,014 |
+| TomTom | 10,428,241 | 1,873,272 |
+
+| Subtype | Length (km) |
+| --- | --- |
+| road | 93,105,661 |
+| rail | 2,880,504 |
+| water | 594,121 |
+
+#### Change Summary
+
+**Count Changes**
+
+| Dataset | Type | Diff | Diff (%) |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| TomTom | segment | 496,747.00 | 5.00% |
+| OpenStreetMap | connector | 2,772,112.00 | 0.67% |
+| OpenStreetMap | segment | 1,299,730.00 | 0.38% |
+
+**Length Changes**
+
+| Subtype | Diff (km) | Diff (%) |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| water | 8,326.42 | 1.42% |
+| road | 414,395.86 | 0.45% |
+| rail | 3,561.22 | 0.12% |
+
+**Highlights:**
+- Improved coverage of `road_surface`, `class`, and `access_restrictions` values.
+
+
+## Schema changelog
+
+The changelog for Overture schema `v1.18.0` is [here](https://github.com/OvertureMaps/schema/releases/tag/v1.18.0).
+
+## Attribution
+
+You'll find information about attribution and licensing [here](/attribution).