Mar 21

Characteristics of Heavily Edited Objects in OpenStreetMap

By Andy OSM Future Internet Paper OpenStreetMap

As Editor of Future Internet (ISSN 1999-5903), an open access journal on Internet technologies and the information society, published by MDPI online we are pleased to announce the publication of the latest paper:

Characteristics of Heavily Edited Objects in OpenStreetMap

Peter Mooney ¹ and Padraig Corcoran ²

¹ Department of Computer Science, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland² School of Computer Science and Informatics, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Abstract

This paper describes the results of an analysis of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) database for the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland (correct to April 2011). 15; 640 OSM ways (polygons and polylines), resulting in 316; 949 unique versions of these objects, were extracted and analysed from the OSM database for the UK and Ireland.

In our analysis we only considered “heavily edited” objects in OSM: objects which have been edited 15 or more times. Our results show that there is no strong relationship between increasing numbers of contributors to a given object and the number of tags (metadata) assigned to it. 87% of contributions/edits to these objects are performed by 11% of the total 4128 contributors.

In 79% of edits additional spatial data (nodes) are added to objects. The results in this paper do not attempt to evaluate the OSM data as good/poor quality but rather informs potential consumers of OSM data that the data itself is changing over time. In developing a better understanding of the characteristics of “heavily edited” objects there may be opportunities to use historical analysis in working towards quality indicators for OSM in the future.

As ever with Future Internet the paper is freely available for download…

Mar 20

Love0

City in a Book: Augmenting the CityEngine

By Andy 3dmax, ar media, Augmented Reality, CASA, CASA MRes, CityEngine, ESRI, The Bartlett

Over the past few days we have been working on a series of techniques to visualise and augment procedural cities.

If you add in a model of a BenQ projector, the MRes in Advanced Spatial Analysis and Visualisation Handbook, a city within the CASA logo and a webcam you get the following augmented reality:

We are exploring this as part of our digital visualisation module on the MRes here in CASA, aiming to build in the latest research into the lectures. The combination of Lumion, 3DMax, Illustrator, CityEngine and AR is intriguing…

Mar 19

Love0

ESRI CityEngine – Creating Cities inside Logos and Logos inside Cities

By Andy CASA UCL, CityEngine, ESRI, Featured Game Engine, Lumion, Procedural Cities, The Bartlett

The best way to learn new modelling software is to step away from complex data and take a side look at its capabilities. We have used this approach to run through the various features of CityEngine, producing a series of movies based around the logo of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, here at University College London.
First up we integrated the CASA logo into the cityscape by manually tracing the logo and building a network around it. Via an import into iMovie the result is a playful fly around the logo:

Taking the concept further we built the city around the logo, using the nodes and hubs as interconnected cityscapes. With the city base rising out the sea it presents a different feel to the original movie:

Finally, we used an alpha channel on the logo, allowing us to lower the outline onto the cityscape:

The combination of Adobe Illustrator, ESRI CityEngine, AutoDesk 3DMax and finally Lumion make for a rapid way to create unique cityscapes. The next steps are to integrate actual data…..

Mar 16

Love0

WikiGIS Basic Concepts: Web 2.0 for Geospatial Collaboration

By Andy Future Internet, Geospatial, GIS, Journal, wikigis

We are pleased to announce the latest FutureInternet Journal paper as part of the special issue on NeoGeography and WikiPlanning:

WikiGIS Basic Concepts: Web 2.0 for Geospatial Collaboration

Stéphane Roche ¹^,* , Boris Mericskay ¹ , Wided Batita ¹ , Matthieu Bach ² and Mathieu Rondeau ³

¹ Centre for Research in Geomatic, Pavillon Casault, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V0A6, Canada² Fujitsu Canada, 2000, boulevard Lebourgneuf, bureau 300, Québec, QC G2K0B8, Canada³ Interdisciplinary Centre for the Development of Ocean Mapping–CIDCO, 310 allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC G5L3A1, Canada

With the emergence of Web 2.0, new applications arise and evolve into more interactive forms of collective intelligence. These applications offer to both professionals and citizens an open and expanded access to geographic information. In this paper, we develop the conceptual foundations of a new technology solution called WikiGIS. WikiGIS’s strength lies
in its ability to ensure the traceability of changes in spatial-temporal geographic components (geometric location and shape, graphics: iconography and descriptive) generated by users. The final use case highlights to what extent WikiGIS could be a relevant and useful technological innovation in Geocollaboration.

As an open access journal you can download the full paper direct from Future Internet.