Using the GERS "system"
In the June release, we introduced new components of GERS, including a new format for GERS IDs and a GERS Registry. In this blog post, we'll walk you through the GERS "system" and show you how to ask probing questions of the Overture datasets.
Understanding GERS IDs
First, let's look at the new ID format for GERS. As of the June 2025 release, all GERS IDs are UUIDs: 128-bit, randomly-generated identifiers (UUID v4) that Overture keeps stable across data releases and updates. These IDs are stored as strings with dashes: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.
For this release only, we're providing Parquet files that map GERS IDs from the May release to the new GERS UUIDs in June release. These files are partitioned by theme and 'type' and can be accessed here: s3://overturemaps-extras-us-west-2/june_to_may_id_mapping/.