Tag: Stats
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From Planet File to Vector Tiles: Benchmarking My OpenStreetMap Processing Pipeline
TL;DR: I benchmarked my OpenStreetMap processing pipeline (Osmosis → Osmium → Tilemaker) across four machines. Updating the planet takes ~16–21 minutes, while generating worldwide vector tiles (z14) takes between 1h45 and 6h18 depending on hardware and parameters. With tuned Tilemaker parameters and sufficient RAM I was able to reduce tile generation to ~1h45. The Full…
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Who and Where? Analyzing the New Company and Location Fields in OpenStreetMap Profiles
In May 2025, the OpenStreetMap (OSM) website introduced two optional fields in public user profiles: company and location (see Github). Both fields accept unstructured free text and are not validated in any way. Since these fields are publicly visible, I wondered whether they could be useful for my “How Did You Contribute to OpenStreetMap?” (HDYC)…
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Review requests of OpenStreetMap contributors
– How you can assist! –The latest version of the OpenStreetMap editor iD has a new feature: “Allow user to request feedback when saving”. This idea has been mentioned in a diary post by Joost Schouppe about “Building local mapping communities” (at that time: “#pleasereview”) in 2016. The blog post also contains some…
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Who is commenting?
An Overview about OSM Changeset DiscussionsAs mentioned in my previous blog post about detecting vandalism in OpenStreetMap (OSM) edits, it’s highly recommended that contributors use public changeset discussions when contacting other mappers regarding their edits. This feature was introduced at the end of 2014 and is used widely by contributors today. Each and every comment is listed publicly and every…
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A comparative study between different OpenStreetMap contributor groups – Outline 2016
Over the past few years I have written several blog posts about the (non-) activity of newly registered OpenStreetMap (OSM) members (2015, 2014, 2013). Similarly to the previous posts, the following image shows the gap between the number of registered and the number of active OSM members. Although the project still shows millions of new…
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Unmapped Places of OpenStreetMap – 2016
Back in 2010 & 2011 I conducted several studies to detect underrepresented regions a.k.a. “unmapped” places in OpenStreetMap (OSM). More than five years later, some people asked if I could rerun the analysis …
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Verified OpenStreetMap contributor profiles?
The reputation of a contributor in OpenStreetMap (OSM) plays a significant role, especially when considering the quality assessment of the collected data. Sometimes it’s difficult …
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Good #Hashtags in OpenStreetMap Changesets
#Hashtags are commonly used on Twitter to find content for a specific topic. Also in the OpenStreetMap (OSM) universe they are popular and utilized to mark changesets, which have been contributed during a special event, such as mapping parties or HOT tasks. However, in most cases, they …
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How to detect suspicious OpenStreetMap Changesets with incorrect edits?
Since its rise in popularity, the well-known online encyclopedia Wikipedia has been struggling with manipulation or, in the worst-case, vandalism attempts. Similarly, the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project suffered several times over the past few years of cases where incorrect map data edits were made. These erroneous edits can stem at times from (new) contributors or illegal…
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OpenStreetMap Crowd Report – Season 2015
Almost one year has passed again. This means it’s time for the fourth OpenStreetMap (OSM) member activity analysis. The previous editions are online here: 2014, 2013 and 2012 …