Tagging in Volunteered Geographic Information: An Analysis of Tagging Practices for Cities and Urban Regions in OpenStreetMap
In Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) projects, the tagging or annotation of objects is usually performed in a flexible and non-constrained manner. Contributors to a VGI project are normally free to choose whatever tags they feel are appropriate to annotate or describe a particular geographic...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-12-01
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| Series: | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/5/12/232 |
| _version_ | 1819230999414833152 |
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| author | Nikola Davidovic Peter Mooney Leonid Stoimenov Marco Minghini |
| author_facet | Nikola Davidovic Peter Mooney Leonid Stoimenov Marco Minghini |
| author_sort | Nikola Davidovic |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) projects, the tagging or annotation of objects is usually performed in a flexible and non-constrained manner. Contributors to a VGI project are normally free to choose whatever tags they feel are appropriate to annotate or describe a particular geographic object or place. In OpenStreetMap (OSM), the Map Features part of the OSM Wiki serves as the de-facto rulebook or ontology for the annotation of features in OSM. Within Map Features, suggestions and guidance on what combinations of tags to use for certain geographic objects are outlined. In this paper, we consider these suggestions and recommendations and analyse the OSM database for 40 cities around the world to ascertain if contributors to OSM in these urban areas are using this guidance in their tagging practices. Overall, we find that compliance with the suggestions and guidance in Map Features is generally average or poor. This leads us to conclude that contributors in these areas do not always tag features with the same level of annotation. Our paper also confirms anecdotal evidence that OSM Map Features is less influential in how OSM contributors tag objects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T11:37:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f52581a25ca42399f46d9a7a98a335f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2220-9964 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T11:37:59Z |
| publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f52581a25ca42399f46d9a7a98a335f2022-12-21T17:48:35ZengMDPI AGISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information2220-99642016-12-0151223210.3390/ijgi5120232ijgi5120232Tagging in Volunteered Geographic Information: An Analysis of Tagging Practices for Cities and Urban Regions in OpenStreetMapNikola Davidovic0Peter Mooney1Leonid Stoimenov2Marco Minghini3Faculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Nis, 18000 Nis, SerbiaDepartment of Computer Science, Maynooth University, W23 F2H6 Maynooth, IrelandFaculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Nis, 18000 Nis, SerbiaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Como Campus, 22100 Como, ItalyIn Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) projects, the tagging or annotation of objects is usually performed in a flexible and non-constrained manner. Contributors to a VGI project are normally free to choose whatever tags they feel are appropriate to annotate or describe a particular geographic object or place. In OpenStreetMap (OSM), the Map Features part of the OSM Wiki serves as the de-facto rulebook or ontology for the annotation of features in OSM. Within Map Features, suggestions and guidance on what combinations of tags to use for certain geographic objects are outlined. In this paper, we consider these suggestions and recommendations and analyse the OSM database for 40 cities around the world to ascertain if contributors to OSM in these urban areas are using this guidance in their tagging practices. Overall, we find that compliance with the suggestions and guidance in Map Features is generally average or poor. This leads us to conclude that contributors in these areas do not always tag features with the same level of annotation. Our paper also confirms anecdotal evidence that OSM Map Features is less influential in how OSM contributors tag objects.http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/5/12/232OpenStreetMapVolunteered Geographic Informationtaggingannotationfolksonomyontologymetadata |
| spellingShingle | Nikola Davidovic Peter Mooney Leonid Stoimenov Marco Minghini Tagging in Volunteered Geographic Information: An Analysis of Tagging Practices for Cities and Urban Regions in OpenStreetMap ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information OpenStreetMap Volunteered Geographic Information tagging annotation folksonomy ontology metadata |
| title | Tagging in Volunteered Geographic Information: An Analysis of Tagging Practices for Cities and Urban Regions in OpenStreetMap |
| title_full | Tagging in Volunteered Geographic Information: An Analysis of Tagging Practices for Cities and Urban Regions in OpenStreetMap |
| title_fullStr | Tagging in Volunteered Geographic Information: An Analysis of Tagging Practices for Cities and Urban Regions in OpenStreetMap |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tagging in Volunteered Geographic Information: An Analysis of Tagging Practices for Cities and Urban Regions in OpenStreetMap |
| title_short | Tagging in Volunteered Geographic Information: An Analysis of Tagging Practices for Cities and Urban Regions in OpenStreetMap |
| title_sort | tagging in volunteered geographic information an analysis of tagging practices for cities and urban regions in openstreetmap |
| topic | OpenStreetMap Volunteered Geographic Information tagging annotation folksonomy ontology metadata |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/5/12/232 |
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