We consider several local versions of the doubling condition and Poincare inequalities on metric measure spaces. Our first result is that in proper connected spaces, the weakest local assumptions self-improve to semilocal ones, i.e. holding within every ball. We then study various geometrical and analytical consequences of such local assumptions, such as local quasiconvexity, self-improvement of Poincare inequalities, existence of Lebesgue points, density of Lipschitz functions and quasicontinuity of Sobolev functions. It turns out that local versions of these properties hold under local assumptions, even though they are not always straightforward. We also conclude that many qualitative, as well as quantitative, properties of p-harmonic functions on metric spaces can be proved in various forms under such local assumptions, with the main exception being the Liouville theorem, which fails without global assumptions. (C) 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.