Diagnosing Spatial and Temporal Biases of OSM Contributors: Identifying Differences Between Gender and Age from an Online Survey

Hyesop Shin, Zoe Gardner, Guy Solomon and Anahid Basiri

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2025, vol. 115, issue 4, 782-802

Abstract: Citizen science projects are open and available to anyone to contribute data. The literature concerning volunteered geographic information, however, has demonstrated significant demographic participation biases across time and space. Understanding the significance and impacts of these biases is challenging due to privacy concerns, which lead to the (pseudo-)anonymity of contributors. Using a sample of 265 users, this article statistically analyzes edits to the crowdsourced mapping platform OpenStreetMap to examine the impact of gender and age on spatial and temporal contribution patterns. We find that men aged in the others group (i.e., below twenty-five or over fifty-four) made more contributions during the week and on weekends than those in the economically active age group (i.e., ages twenty-five through fifty-four). Using the Kruskal–Wallis test to compare temporal contributions between gender groups, the economically active group showed a significant gender difference on both weekdays and weekends, as well as the hours of the day, with men making more contributions than women regardless of age category. Men in the others group made the most contributions overall. Calculating the Simpson Index of Diversity for user edits reveals that women have more limited spatial interests (i.e., they contribute to fewer countries) than their male counterparts, suggesting particular spatial preferences by gender.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2024.2447507

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