Open AccessUsing Global OpenStreetMap Data to Solve Local Problems
Author(s) -
AUTHOR_ID,
D. L. Crawford
Publication year - 2022
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Dissertations/theses
DOI - 10.26716/redlands/master/2021.5
Subject(s) - volunteered geographic information , workflow , computer science , geographic information system , geoprocessing , scale (ratio) , data science , quality (philosophy) , spatial analysis , data mining , information retrieval , database , geography , cartography , remote sensing , philosophy , epistemology
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) consulting companies are looking for ways to cut costs. Data acquisition is often the largest cost of any GIS project. OpenStreetMap (OSM) provides Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) which is freely available for all people to use. OSM data is global in scale, and very difficult to work with. OSM data needs to be organized and loaded into a Geodatabase. This enables Geoprocessing and analysis, using Esri’s ArcGIS Platform. This is essential to every consultant, as almost all their products are a result of analysis. The purpose of this project was to answer the question: Can global OpenStreetMap data be used to answer local questions? This project suggests a consistent and repeatable workflow to extract, translate, and load (ETL) OSM data into an Esri Geodatabase. The project determines reliability of using VGI, with a thorough look at current research on the quality and accuracy of VGI and, specifically, OSM. It is essential that we understand the potential issues with the quality and accuracy of VGI so that we may associate the appropriate level of trust to the results of any analysis. Current research and analysis conclude that OSM and VGI provide data of a consistent quality and accuracy which is appropriate to use in analysis at the local level. This project enables analysis of OSM’s global dataset at scales to address local problems.