OpenStreetMap Points of Interest Database

Synopsis

Not sure if this is a common method for geospatial databases or not, this stores nodes and keys by their average coordinate encoded as GeoHash for query by location.

Importing an OSM Protocol Buffers Dump

I recommend pipeview for monitoring progress:

pv -per < region-latest.osm.pbf | node osm2leveldb.js

Query

By latitude/longitude + maximum extend:

var AreaStream = require('../area_stream');
new AreaStream({
    lat: 51,
    lon: 13,
    extent: 5000
}).pipe(myConsumer);