Recent Developments and Future Trends in Volunteered Geographic Information Research: The Case of OpenStreetMap

User-generated content (UGC) platforms on the Internet have experienced a steep increase in data contributions in recent years. The ubiquitous usage of location-enabled devices, such as smartphones, allows contributors to share their geographic information on a number of selected online portals. The collected information is oftentimes referred to as volunteered geographic information (VGI). One of the most utilized, analyzed and cited VGI-platforms, with an increasing popularity over the past few years, is OpenStreetMap (OSM), whose main goal it is to create a freely available geographic database of the world. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in VGI research, focusing on its collaboratively collected geodata and corresponding contributor patterns. Additionally, trends in the realm of OSM research are discussed, highlighting which aspects need to be investigated more closely in the near future

Are crowdsourced datasets suitable for specialized routing services? Case study of Openstreetmap for routing of people with limited mobility

Nowadays, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has increasingly gained attractiveness to both amateur users and professionals. Using data generated from the crowd has become a hot topic for several application domains including transportation. However, there are concerns regarding the quality of such datasets. As one of the most famous crowdsourced mapping platforms, we analyze the fitness for use of OpenStreetMap (OSM) database for routing and navigation of people with limited mobility. We assess the completeness of OSM data regarding sidewalk information. Relevant attributes for sidewalk information such as sidewalk width, incline, surface texture, etc. are considered, and through both extrinsic and intrinsic quality analysis methods, we present the results of fitness for use of OSM data for routing services of disabled persons. Based on empirical results, it is concluded that OSM data of relatively large spatial extents inside all studied cities could be an acceptable region of interest to test and evaluate wheelchair routing and navigation services, as long as other data quality parameters such as positional accuracy and logical consistency are checked and proved to be acceptable. We present an extended version of OSMatrix web service and explore how it is employed to perform spatial and temporal analysis of sidewalk data completeness in OSM. The tool is beneficial for piloting activities, whereas the pilot site planners can query OpenStreetMap and visualize the degree of sidewalk data availability in a certain region of interest. This would allow identifying the areas that data are mostly missing and plan for data collection events. Furthermore, empirical results of data completeness for several OSM data indicators and their potential relation to sidewalk data completeness are presented and discussed. Finally, the article ends with an outlook for future research study in this area

Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2019 - Heidelberg (Germany), September 21-23, 2019

State of the Map featured a full day of academic talks. Building upon the motto of SotM 2019 in "Bridging the Map" the Academic Track session was aimed to provide the bridge to join together the experience, understanding, ideas, concepts and skills from different groups of researchers, academics and scientists from around the world. In particular, the Academic Track session was meant to build this bridge that connects members of the OpenStreetMap community and the academic community by providing an open passage for exchange of ideas, communication and opportunities for increased collaboration. These proceedings include 14 abstracts accepted as oral presentations and 6 abstracts presented as posters. Contributions were received from different academic fields, for example geography, remote sensing, computer and information sciences, geomatics, GIScience, the humanities and social sciences, and even from industry actors. We are particularly delighted to have included abstracts from both experienced researchers and students. Overall, it is our hope that these proceedings accurately showcase the ongoing innovation and maturity of scientific investigations and research into OpenStreetMap, showing how it as a research object converges multiple research areas together. Our aim is to show how the sum total of investigations of issues like Volunteered Geographic Information, geo-information, and geo-digital processes and representation shed light on the relations between crowds, real-world applications, technological developments, and scientific research

Analysis of interaction and co-editing patterns amongst OpenStreetMap contributors

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a very well known and popular Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) project on the Internet. In January 2013 OSM gained its one millionth registered member. Several studies have shown that only a small percentage of these registered members carry out the large majority of the mapping and map editing work. In this article we discuss results from a social-network based analysis of seven major cities in OSM in an effort to understand if there is quantitative evidence of interaction and collaboration between OSM members in these areas. Are OSM contributors working on their own to build OSM databases in these cities or is there evidence of collaboration between OSM contributors? We find that in many cases high frequent contributors (“senior mappers”) perform very large amounts of mapping work on their own but do interact (edit/update) contributions from lower frequency contributors

Modeling aggregated expertise of user contributions to assess the credibility of OpenStreetMap features + Erratum

The emergence of volunteered geographic information (VGI) during the past decade has fueled a wide range of research and applications. The assessment of VGI quality and fitness-of-use is still a challenge because of the non-standardized and crowdsourced data collection process, as well as the unknown skill and motivation of the contributors. However, the frequent approach of assessing VGI quality against external data sources using ISO quality standard measures is problematic because of a frequent lack of available external (reference) data, and because for certain types of features, VGI might be more up-to-date than the reference data. Therefore, a VGI-intrinsic measure of quality is highly desirable. This study proposes such an intrinsic measure of quality by developing the concept of aggregated expertise based on the characteristics of a feature's contributors. The article further operationalizes this concept and examines its feasibility through a case study using OpenStreetMap (OSM). The comparison of model OSM feature quality with information from a field survey demonstrates the successful implementation of this novel approach

Enhancing Data Classification Quality of Volunteered Geographic Information

Geographic data is one of the fundamental components of any Geographic Information System (GIS). Nowadays, the utility of GIS becomes part of everyday life activities, such as searching for a destination, planning a trip, looking for weather information, etc. Without a reliable data source, systems will not provide guaranteed services. In the past, geographic data was collected and processed exclusively by experts and professionals. However, the ubiquity of advanced technology results in the evolution of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), when the geographic data is collected and produced by the general public. These changes influence the availability of geographic data, when common people can work together to collect geographic data and produce maps. This particular trend is known as collaborative mapping. In collaborative mapping, the general public shares an online platform to collect, manipulate, and update information about geographic features. OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a prominent example of a collaborative mapping project, which aims to produce a free world map editable and accessible by anyone. During the last decade, VGI has expanded based on the power of crowdsourcing. The involvement of the public in data collection raises great concern about the resulting data quality. There exist various perspectives of geographic data quality this dissertation focuses particularly on the quality of data classification (i.e., thematic accuracy). In professional data collection, data is classified based on quantitative and/or qualitative ob- servations. According to a pre-defined classification model, which is usually constructed by experts, data is assigned to appropriate classes. In contrast, in most collaborative mapping projects data classification is mainly based on individualsa cognition. Through online platforms, contributors collect information about geographic features and trans- form their perceptions into classified entities. In VGI projects, the contributors mostly have limited experience in geography and cartography. Therefore, the acquired data may have a questionable classification quality. This dissertation investigates the challenges of data classification in VGI-based mapping projects (i.e., collaborative mapping projects). In particular, it lists the challenges relevant to the evolution of VGI as well as to the characteristics of geographic data. Furthermore, this work proposes a guiding approach to enhance the data classification quality in such projects. The proposed approach is based on the following premises (i) the availability of large amounts of data, which fosters applying machine learning techniques to extract useful knowledge, (ii) utilization of the extracted knowledge to guide contributors to appropriate data classification, (iii) the humanitarian spirit of contributors to provide precise data, when they are supported by a guidance system, and (iv) the power of crowdsourcing in data collection as well as in ensuring the data quality. This cumulative dissertation consists of five peer-reviewed publications in international conference proceedings and international journals. The publications divide the disser- tation into three parts the first part presents a comprehensive literature review about the relevant previous work of VGI quality assurance procedures (Chapter 2), the second part studies the foundations of the approach (Chapters 3-4), and the third part discusses the proposed approach and provides a validation example for implementing the approach (Chapters 5-6). Furthermore, Chapter 1 presents an overview about the research ques- tions and the adapted research methodology, while Chapter 7 concludes the findings and summarizes the contributions. The proposed approach is validated through empirical studies and an implemented web application. The findings reveal the feasibility of the proposed approach. The output shows that applying the proposed approach results in enhanced data classification quality. Furthermore, the research highlights the demands for intuitive data collection and data interpretation approaches adequate to VGI-based mapping projects. An interaction data collection approach is required to guide the contributors toward enhanced data quality, while an intuitive data interpretation approach is needed to derive more precise information from rich VGI resources

The scale of VGI in map production: a perspective of European National Mapping Agencies

The perspective of European National Mapping Agencies (NMA) on the role of citizen sensing in map production was explored. The NMAs varied greatly in their engagement with the community generating volunteered geographic information (VGI) and in their future plans. From an assessment of NMA standard practices, it was evident that much VGI was acquired with a positional accuracy that, while less than that typically acquired by NMAs, actually exceeded the requirements of the nominal data capture scale used by most NMAs. Opportunities for VGI use in map revision and updating were evident, especially for agencies that use a continuous rather than cyclical updating policy. Some NMAs had also developed systems to engage with citizen sensors and examples are discussed. Only rarely was VGI used to collect data on features beyond the standard set used by the NMAs. The potential role of citizen sensing and so its current scale of use by NMAs is limited by a series of concerns, notably relating to issues of data quality, the nature and motivation of the contributors, legal issues, the sustainability of data source, and employment fears of NMA staff. Possible priorities for future research and development are identified to help ensure that the potential of VGI in mapping is realized

Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2020

Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 202

Proceedings of the Academic Track at the State of the Map 2020

Proceedings of the Academic Track at the State of the Map 2020 - Online (originally planned in Cape Town, South Africa) July 4-6, 2020

Cartographic Vandalism in the Era of Location-Based Games—The Case of OpenStreetMap and Pokémon GO

User-generated map data is increasingly used by the technology industry for background mapping, navigation and beyond. An example is the integration of OpenStreetMap (OSM) data in widely-used smartphone and web applications, such as Pokémon GO (PGO), a popular augmented reality smartphone game. As a result of OSM’s increased popularity, the worldwide audience that uses OSM through external applications is directly exposed to malicious edits which represent cartographic vandalism. Multiple reports of obscene and anti-semitic vandalism in OSM have surfaced in popular media over the years. These negative news related to cartographic vandalism undermine the credibility of collaboratively generated maps. Similarly, commercial map providers (e.g., Google Maps and Waze) are also prone to carto-vandalism through their crowdsourcing mechanism that they may use to keep their map products up-to-date. Using PGO as an example, this research analyzes harmful edits in OSM that originate from PGO players. More specifically, this paper analyzes the spatial, temporal and semantic characteristics of PGO carto-vandalism and discusses how the mapping community handles it. Our findings indicate that most harmful edits are quickly discovered and that the community becomes faster at detecting and fixing these harmful edits over time. Gaming related carto-vandalism in OSM was found to be a short-term, sporadic activity by individuals, whereas the task of fixing vandalism is persistently pursued by a dedicated user group within the OSM community. The characteristics of carto-vandalism identified in this research can be used to improve vandalism detection systems in the future