Napolitano, Maurizio and Mooney, Peter (2012) MVP OSM: a tool to identify areas of high quality contributor activity in OpenStreetMap. The Bulletin of the Society of Cartographers, 45 (1). pp. 10-18.
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Abstract
OpenStreetMap’s success continues to grow and contributions are not limited to the
collection of spatial data using GPS (Global Positioning System) equipment. A very wide
range of software tools developed by, and available to, the OSM community means that at
present, anyone can also make a contribution through, for example, tracing aerial imagery,
directly importing data, or by adding spatial information retrieved from smartphones.
Consequently ‘the map’ has become increasingly rich, but the quality of the data is very often
questioned and comes under scrutiny from the GIS and LBS (Location-Based Services)
communities. By examining the world map generated from OpenStreetMap, it is relatively
easy to identify areas which are more or less well supported in community mapping
activities; a very high level of spatial detail in certain areas can indicate the quality of OSM
data. MVP OSM is a software tool designed to highlight areas in OpensStreetMap where
users (contributors) are dedicated to providing high levels of spatial detail. This usually
correlates with the use of a GPS and on-the-ground mapping, or, at the very least, a deep
local knowledge of the area and an inherent desire to see it represented in the highest level of
detail on OpenStreetMap. The input to MVP OSM is an OSM XML file, which is converted
by Python into a file for spatialite (the GIS extension for sqlite). Within spatialite the data is
processed to create clusters and using these spatial clusters, the tool can then derive the
activity of single or multiple users in that area. Vector layers and heatmaps are generated as
output that can be overlaid onto OSM maps. A high level of detail can be considered a good
indicator of the quality of OSM data within a given area. The MVP OSM tool hides the
details of OSM XML processing, which many researchers find difficult, and processes the
data to produce very useful visualizations of contributor activity in any given OSM area.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | Preprint version of published article. |
Keywords: | MVP OSM; spatial data; contributor activity; OpenStreetMap; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > Computer Science |
Item ID: | 5849 |
Depositing User: | Peter Mooney |
Date Deposited: | 17 Feb 2015 15:57 |
Journal or Publication Title: | The Bulletin of the Society of Cartographers |
Publisher: | Society of Cartographers |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/5849 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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