This year, two of our colleagues will participate at the State of the Map Europe 2024 Conference, which will take place from July 18-21, 2024, in Łódź, Poland. The annual event is a cornerstone for the European (OpenStreetMap) OSM community, attracting developers, scientists, designers, social activists, companies and enthusiasts worldwide to enhance mapping practices and promote open geographic knowledge.
Talk: Unveiling the Rarity in OSM Contributions
07-19, 14:00–14:20 (Poland), Plenary Auditorium
Moritz Schott will present a talk on a novel methodology for investigating the tendency of OSM users to make rare or uncommon edits. This analysis aims to highlight the unique and valuable aspects of the OSM dataset that contribute to its richness and diversity.
The talk will introduce the “unicorn index,” a metric developed to compare users’ tendencies to make rare edits with others in their region. The analysis is twofold, examining both rare tag edits and rare map feature type edits. Key findings include that a significant number of OSM users exhibit a high tendency to contribute rare elements, thereby enriching the dataset, and the launch of an interactive website that allows users in Germany and Poland to compute their personal unicorn index. The accompanying manuscript will transparently detail the methodology and findings, with all source code available under an open license.
For more information, check out the conference website.