Characterizing the Heterogeneity of the OpenStreetMap Data and Community
OpenStreetMap (OSM) constitutes an unprecedented, free, geographical information source contributed by millions of individuals, resulting in a database of great volume and heterogeneity. In this study, we characterize the heterogeneity of the entire OSM database and historical archive in the context...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2015-04-01
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| Series: | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/4/2/535 |
| _version_ | 1819259454625939456 |
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| author | Ding Ma Mats Sandberg Bin Jiang |
| author_facet | Ding Ma Mats Sandberg Bin Jiang |
| author_sort | Ding Ma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | OpenStreetMap (OSM) constitutes an unprecedented, free, geographical information source contributed by millions of individuals, resulting in a database of great volume and heterogeneity. In this study, we characterize the heterogeneity of the entire OSM database and historical archive in the context of big data. We consider all users, geographic elements and user contributions from an eight-year data archive, at a size of 692 GB. We rely on some nonlinear methods such as power law statistics and head/tail breaks to uncover and illustrate the underlying scaling properties. All three aspects (users, elements, and contributions) demonstrate striking power laws or heavy-tailed distributions. The heavy-tailed distributions imply that there are far more small elements than large ones, far more inactive users than active ones, and far more lightly edited elements than heavy-edited ones. Furthermore, about 500 users in the core group of the OSM are highly networked in terms of collaboration. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T19:10:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4e52a36172ae4c15a364238aec38266a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2220-9964 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T19:10:16Z |
| publishDate | 2015-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information |
| spelling | doaj.art-4e52a36172ae4c15a364238aec38266a2022-12-21T17:34:30ZengMDPI AGISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information2220-99642015-04-014253555010.3390/ijgi4020535ijgi4020535Characterizing the Heterogeneity of the OpenStreetMap Data and CommunityDing Ma0Mats Sandberg1Bin Jiang2Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, SwedenFaculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, SwedenFaculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, SwedenOpenStreetMap (OSM) constitutes an unprecedented, free, geographical information source contributed by millions of individuals, resulting in a database of great volume and heterogeneity. In this study, we characterize the heterogeneity of the entire OSM database and historical archive in the context of big data. We consider all users, geographic elements and user contributions from an eight-year data archive, at a size of 692 GB. We rely on some nonlinear methods such as power law statistics and head/tail breaks to uncover and illustrate the underlying scaling properties. All three aspects (users, elements, and contributions) demonstrate striking power laws or heavy-tailed distributions. The heavy-tailed distributions imply that there are far more small elements than large ones, far more inactive users than active ones, and far more lightly edited elements than heavy-edited ones. Furthermore, about 500 users in the core group of the OSM are highly networked in terms of collaboration.http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/4/2/535OpenStreetMapbig datapower lawshead/tail breaksht-index |
| spellingShingle | Ding Ma Mats Sandberg Bin Jiang Characterizing the Heterogeneity of the OpenStreetMap Data and Community ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information OpenStreetMap big data power laws head/tail breaks ht-index |
| title | Characterizing the Heterogeneity of the OpenStreetMap Data and Community |
| title_full | Characterizing the Heterogeneity of the OpenStreetMap Data and Community |
| title_fullStr | Characterizing the Heterogeneity of the OpenStreetMap Data and Community |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characterizing the Heterogeneity of the OpenStreetMap Data and Community |
| title_short | Characterizing the Heterogeneity of the OpenStreetMap Data and Community |
| title_sort | characterizing the heterogeneity of the openstreetmap data and community |
| topic | OpenStreetMap big data power laws head/tail breaks ht-index |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/4/2/535 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dingma characterizingtheheterogeneityoftheopenstreetmapdataandcommunity AT matssandberg characterizingtheheterogeneityoftheopenstreetmapdataandcommunity AT binjiang characterizingtheheterogeneityoftheopenstreetmapdataandcommunity |