OpenStreetMap, beyond just Data: The Academic Track at State of the Map 2022

Abstract

This is the editorial of the Proceedings of the Academic Track at the State of the Map (SotM) 2022 conference, which took place as a hybrid event in Florence, Italy on August 19-21, 2022 as well as an online event. The editorial introduces and describes the 19 short papers included in the Proceedings and presented at the conference, highlighting that scientific works do not only address OpenStreetMap as a simple geospatial dataset, but also - increasingly - as a social product made up of the actions of individuals, organizations, and communities.

Full text

Proceedings of the Academic Track, State of the Map 2022 August 19 - 21, 2021 | Florence, Italy
OpenStreetMap, beyond just Data: The
Academic Track at State of the Map 2022
A. Yair Grinberger1,*, Pengyuan Liu2, Hao Li3,4, Levente Juhasz5and Marco Minghini6,†
1Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel;
yair.grinberger@mail.huji.ac.il
2Urban Analytics Lab, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, Singapore;
pyliu93@nus.edu.sg
3Professorship of Big Geospatial Data Management, Technical University of Munich, 85521,
Ottobrunn, Germany;
4GIScience Chair, Institute of Geography, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany;
hao.li@uni-heidelberg.de
5GIS Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA; ljuhasz@fiu.edu
6European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy; marco.minghini@ec.europa.eu
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†The views expressed are purely those of the author and may not in any circumstances be regarded
as stating an official position of the European Commission.
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a project and a community, or community of communities
[1], geared towards producing a free, editable, and global geographic database to which
anyone can contribute. With more than 8.8 million registered users contributing more than
7.8 billion data points as of 8 August 2022 [2], it has attracted attention across various
spheres, from tech giants [1], through governmental organizations and NGOs [3,4], popular
media [5], social activists [6], to the academic world [7–9]. The latter is reflected not only in a
large corpus of scientific publications relating to OSM, but also in the establishment of the
OSM-science mailing list [10], dedicated to correspondence on academic studies of OSM,
and since 2018 – in the inclusion of a dedicated Academic Track in the annual State of the
Map (SotM) conference, the global meeting of the OSM community [11]. The proceedings of
the Academic Track at the SotM 2022 conference, taking place in Florence, Italy on August
19-21, 2022 [12], include 19 short papers corresponding to 9 talks and 10 lightning talks
presented at the conference. These talks join 49 talks from the previous 4 Academic Track
editions as an example of the continued interest of the scientific community in OSM.
The study of OSM is a study of a research object that keeps on evolving and
changing [13]. This opens for multiple ways to approach it. However, a classification of
recent OSM-related publications [7] shows that some ways are more dominant than others,
with the vast majority of papers following data-centric approaches. Unsurprisingly, this
theme is also evident in some of the studies included in these proceedings. Several
abstracts present domain-specific applications of OSM data, combining OSM data to derive
public urban green spaces [14], plan sustainable transport infrastructures [15], map detailed
floor plans from digital building models into OSM and back out [16], and using OSM to
Grinberger, A.Y., Liu, P., Li, H., Juhász, L., & Minghini, M. (2022). OpenStreetMap, beyond just Data: The Academic Track at State of
the Map 2022.
In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.). Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022,
Florence, Italy, 19-21 August 2022. Available at https://zenodo.org/communities/sotm-22
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7004424
© 2022 by the authors. Available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. 1

Proceedings of the Academic Track, State of the Map 2022 August 19-21 | Florence, Italy
understand global urban green accessibility [17]. Other studies explore the potential for
integrating OSM data with other data sources, e.g. combining OSM water tags with Water
Point Data Exchange (WPdx) to improve the mapping of rural water infrastructures in Africa
[18], or working towards a knowledge-graph (i.e. Wikidata) integrated OSM dataset [19].
Analyses of data quality are not absent here with Herfort et al. [20] assessing OSM building
completeness in urban areas across the world, Camboim et al. [21] investigating the impact
of grid cell size for OSM data quality analysis, and Dickinson et al. [22] assessing OSM data
quality regarding network navigability in areas where high levels of corporate contributions
were observed. A final group of abstracts emphasizes data accessibility, either by supporting
mapping activities or data analysis: Anderson & Omidire’s [23] development of the
Analysis-Ready Daylight OSM Distribution makes global OSM data analysis easier and faster;
Vestena et al. [24] introduce a new open-source QGIS Plugin named "OSM SidewalKreator" to
help the OSM community to better draw the geometries of sidewalks, crossings, and kerbs in
an automatic manner; Schott et al. [25] proposed a workflow to enhance multi-label remote
sensing image classification by automatically extracting OSM multi-label training data and
verifying them via a feedback-loop in the Tasking Manager projects.
Yet, as noted above, OSM is not just a database - it is the cumulative result of the
actions of individuals, organizations, and communities, all being a fundamental part of what
OSM is. Hence, OSM is also a social product in which interpersonal, organizational, and
behavioral dynamics play a pivotal role [26]. The implication of this is that OSM is a system
that extends beyond itself with flows of inputs, people, and resources coming from other
systems into it and back out. This social perspective, while existing in the literature, had
historically received much less attention [7]. Surveying the abstracts included in these
proceedings suggests that the tide may be turning, with 7 of the abstracts detailing research
that is socially-oriented in one of several ways. First, 3 abstracts present applications of
OSM data that are specifically geared towards social causes, exploring the potential of
participatory mapping using a dedicated mobile app based on OSM for promoting
geo-literacy among high-school students [27], for analyzing the accessibility of urban spaces
for the visually impaired thus prompting equal mobility and walkability in the city [28], or for
mapping vulnerable spaces such as refugee camps, using open drone imagery collected as
part of the activities of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) [29]. Generally,
humanitarian efforts within OSM, such as in the last example, seem to induce more
socially-oriented research, as seen in Solís’ exploration of the way the YouthMappers
movement within OSM uses universities as hybrid organizations to navigate between global
humanitarian efforts and students’ local motivations [30], or Steele’s anthropological study
of OSM [31] (probably the first since Lin’s pioneering work [32]) that uncovers the above
mentioned flows through the notion of ‘supply chains‘. The work of Shrestha et al. [33] joins
the one about YouthMappers mentioned above in studying effects on participants by
showcasing that mapping skills training of recent high-school graduates and undergraduate
students have long-term benefits for youth. Finally, Juhász and Mooney [34] shine a unique
light on social dynamics by exploring the meaning for OSM of null island, the fictitious place
located at the origin of the WGS1984 coordinate system to which much data is erroneously
allocated.
The differentiation made here between data-oriented and social research is not
meant to suggest that one is better or more required than the other. This differentiation may
not even be real or beneficial given the extent to which contribution processes and data are
2

Proceedings of the Academic Track, State of the Map 2022 August 19-21 | Florence, Italy
interlaced [35] and the awareness of many authors to the social side of OSM, sometimes
through direct interactions [7]. Hence, the growing attention to the social aspect of OSM is a
positive sign showing that the scientific endeavor termed as OSM science [36] is further
developing and maturing. But it also shows that it still has room to grow, promoting
interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers that can comprehensively consider
both the data and the social aspects of OSM. We use this editorial as an open call for
researchers to pursue this direction, further enhancing our understanding of OSM.
References
[1] Anderson, J., Sarkar, D., & Palen, S. (2019). Corporate editors in the evolving landscape of
OpenStreetMap. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 8(5), 232.
[2] OSM Contributors (2022). OpenStreetMap Stats. Retrieved from
https://planet.openstreetmap.org/statistics/data_stats.html
[3] Haklay, M., Antoniou, V., Basiouka, S., Soden, R., & Mooney, P. (2014). Crowdsourced geographic
information use in government. Report to Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (World
Bank), London.
[4] Minghini, M., Kotsev, A., & Lutz, M. (2019). Comparing INSPIRE and OpenStreetMap data: how to
make the most out of the two worlds. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote
Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences,XLII-4/W14, 167–174.
[5] Elliott, V. (2022). Ukrainians are scrubbing open-source maps to keep intel from Russia’s army. Rest
of the World. Retrieved from https://restofworld.org/2022/ukrainians-osint-maps-russia
[6] Quinn, S., & Yapa, L. (2016). OpenStreetMap and food security: A case study in the city of
Philadelphia. The Professional Geographer, 68(2), 271–280.
[7] Grinberger, A. Y., Minghini, M., Yeboah, G., Juhász, L., & Mooney, P. (2022). Bridges and barriers: An
exploration of engagements of the research community with the OpenStreetMap community. ISPRS
International Journal of Geo-Information, 11(1), 54.
[8] Sehra, S.S., Singh, J., & Rai, H.S. (2017). Using Latent Semantic Analysis to Identify Research
Trends in OpenStreetMap. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information,6(7), 195.
[9] Yan, Y., Feng, C.-C., Huang, W., Fan, H., Wang, Y.-C., & Zipf, A. (2020). Volunteered Geographic
Information Research in the First Decade: A Narrative Review of Selected Journal Articles in
GIScience. International Journal of Geographic Information Science, 2020, 34(9), 1765–1791.
[10] OSM Science mailing list: Discuss Anything Science Related in the OpenStreetMap Ecosystem.
Retrieved from https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/science
[11] State of the Map 2018, Academic Track: Call for abstracts. Retrieved from https://2018.stateof
themap.org/academictrack
[12] State of the Map 2022. Retrieved from https://2022.stateofthemap.org
[13] Grinberger, A. Y., Anderson, J., Mooney, P., Ludwig, C., & Minghini, M. (2021). OpenStreetMap as a
multifaceted research subject: the Academic Track at State of the Map 2021. In: Minghini, M.,
Ludwing, C., Anderson, J., Mooney, P., & Grinberger, A.Y. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at
the State of the Map 2021 Online Conference, July 9-11 2021, 1–5.
[14] Rieche, T., & Hecht, R. (2022). Automated derivation of public urban green spaces via
activity-related barriers using OpenStreetMap. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász,
L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August,
2022.
[15] Timaite, G., Hulse, J., & Lovelace, R. (2022). OSM for sustainable transport planning. In: Minghini,
M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the
Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[16] Tauscher, H., Krishnakumar, S., & Heigener, D. (2022). Floor plan extraction from digital building
models. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic
Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
3

Proceedings of the Academic Track, State of the Map 2022 August 19-21 | Florence, Italy
[17] Battiston, A., & Schifanella, R. (2022). Understanding and modelling accessibility to public green in
large urban centers using OpenStreetMap data. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., &
Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21
August, 2022.
[18] Nakacwa, S., McCusker, B., Sill, K., Clark, C., & Nealon, R. (2022). Combining Volunteered
Geographic Information and WPdx standards to Improve Mapping of Rural Water Infrastructure in
Uganda. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic
Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[19] Dsoua, A., Schott, M., & Lautenbach, S. (2022). Comparative Integration Potential Analyses of
OSM and Wikidata – The Case Study of Railway Stations. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger,
A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy,
19-21 August, 2022.
[20] Herfort, B., Lautenbach, S., Porto de Albuquerque, J., Anderson, J., & Zipf, A. (2022). Inequalities in
the completeness of OpenStreetMap buildings in urban centers. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H.,
Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022,
Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[21] Camboim, S.P., Paiva, C., Schmidt, M., Elias, E., Bortolini, E., & Neivas, G. (2022). The cell size issue
in OpenStreetMap data quality parameter analyses: an interpolation-based approach. In: Minghini, M.,
Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the
Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[22] Dickinson, C., Patel, J., & Sarkar, D. (2022). Corporate editing and its impact on network
navigability within OpenStreetMap. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.)
Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[23] Anderson, J., & Omidire, T.W. (2022). Increasing OSM Data Accessibility with the Analysis-Ready
Daylight Distribution of OSM: Demonstration of Cloud-Based Assessments of Global Building
Completeness. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the
Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[24] Vestena, K., Camboim, S., & Santos, D. (2022). OSM Sidewalkreator - A QGIS plugin for automated
sidewalk drawing for OSM. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.)
Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[25] Schott, M., Zell, A., Lautenbach, S., Demir, B., & Zipf, A. (2022). Returning the favor - Leveraging
quality insights of OpenStreetMap-based land-use/land-cover multi-label modeling to the community.
In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at
State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[26] Grinberger, A.Y., Schott, M., Raifer, M., & Zipf, A. (2021). An analysis of the spatial and temporal
distribution of large-scale data production events in OpenStreetMap. Transactions in GIS, 25(2),
622–641.
[27] Lan, D., Dalyot, S. & Baram-Tsabari, A. (2022). Landmarks for accessible space – promoting
geo-literacy through geospatial citizen science.In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., &
Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21
August, 2022.
[28] Cohen, A., Natapo, A., & Dalyot, S. (2022). Leveraging OpenStreetMap to investigate urban
accessibility and safety of visually impaired pedestrians. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y.,
& Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21
August, 2022.
[29] Chan, C.Y.-C., Weigand, M., Alnajar, E.A., & Taubenböck, H. (2022). Investigating the capability of
UAV imagery for AI-assisted mapping of Refugee Camps in East Africa. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H.,
Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022,
Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
4

Proceedings of the Academic Track, State of the Map 2022 August 19-21 | Florence, Italy
[30] Solís, P. (2022). YouthMappers: A Hybrid Movement Design for the OpenStreetMap Community of
Communities. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the
Academic Track at State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[31] Steele, A.L. (2022). Mapping crises, communities and capitalism on OpenStreetMap: situating
humanitarian mapping in the (open source) mapping supply chain. In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H.,
Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the Map 2022,
Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[32] Lin, Y.-W. (2010). A qualitative enquiry into OpenStreetMap making. New Review of Hypermedia
and Multimedia, 17(1), 53–71.
[33] Shrestha, A., Raj Budhathoki, N., & Erbstein, N. (2022). OpenStreetMap as a tool for skill building.
In: Minghini, M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at
State of the Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[34] Juhász, L., & Mooney, P. (2022). Null Island - a node of contention in OpenStreetMap. In: Minghini,
M., Liu, P., Li, H., Grinberger, A.Y., & Juhász, L. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Academic Track at State of the
Map 2022, Florence, Italy, 19-21 August, 2022.
[35] Sieber, R.E., & Haklay, M. (2015). The epistemology(s) of volunteered geographic information: a
critique. In: Geo: Geography and Environment, 2(2), 122–136.
[36] Grinberger, A.Y., Minghini, M., Juhász, L., Yeboah, G., & Mooney, P. (2022). OSM Science - the
academic study of the OpenStreetMap project, data, contributions, community, and applications. In:
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 11(4), 230.
5