Characterising the metric and topological evolution of OpenStreetMap network representations

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative project to create a free editable map database of the world. This paper presents an analysis of the evolution of OSM street network representations. Three urban areas in Ireland were analysed where each evolves from containing little street network detail to a highly detailed street network. In order to characterise this evolution a number of metric and topological characteristics were computed. Some characteristics exhibited broadly similar behaviour in each region. This may be a attributed to similarities in the degree of contributor activity and intrinsic universal mapping procedures exhibited by contributors.