Recent Developments and Future Trends in Volunteered Geographic Information Research: The Case of OpenStreetMap

Pascal Neis and Dennis Zielstra
Additional contact information
Pascal Neis: Geoinformatics Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Heidelberg, Berliner Street 48, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Dennis Zielstra: Geomatics Program, University of Florida, 3205 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314, USA

Future Internet, 2014, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-31

Abstract: User-generated content (UGC) platforms on the Internet have experienced a steep increase in data contributions in recent years. The ubiquitous usage of location-enabled devices, such as smartphones, allows contributors to share their geographic information on a number of selected online portals. The collected information is oftentimes referred to as volunteered geographic information (VGI). One of the most utilized, analyzed and cited VGI-platforms, with an increasing popularity over the past few years, is OpenStreetMap (OSM), whose main goal it is to create a freely available geographic database of the world. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in VGI research, focusing on its collaboratively collected geodata and corresponding contributor patterns. Additionally, trends in the realm of OSM research are discussed, highlighting which aspects need to be investigated more closely in the near future.

Keywords: volunteered geographic information; OpenStreetMap; user generated content; future trends (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/6/1/76/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/6/1/76/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jftint:v:6:y:2014:i:1:p:76-106:d:32560

Access Statistics for this article

Future Internet is currently edited by Ms. Grace You

More articles in Future Internet from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().