Geo-Analytics on OpenStreetMap Road Data

January 26th, 2011

OpenStreetMap data is gaining increased attention and adoption within location-enabled applications. In contrast to commercial maps there is no defined long-term coverage expansion plan. Expansion is driven by the contributors and happens on a rather unpredictable basis on a global scale. Thus, one of the biggest questions for broad adoption in particular for commercial applications is: How does OSM compare to commercial maps for mileage covered and how is it going to evolve in the next couple of years assuming no major change in the trends?

A simple way of getting an idea of the coverage expansion trends is to look at the historical data. This article aims to provide visualizations for two elements: where was the coverage expansion happening and how did it break down on a weekly basis.

Beyonav has performed a statistical analysis on over 600GB compressed (10 TB uncompressed) weekly Planet-OSM database dump files since December 30th, 2009. Only map data which represent roads (ways tagged with the keyword “highway”) and have valid geometry (at least two nodes associated with the way) were processed. The animated picture below shows the weekly snapshots of the roads locations as a simple world heat map. The green points overlaid on the background represent locations with road coverage.

Version	File size (Bytes)	File size (%)	Nodes	Nodes (%)	Road Ways	Ways (%)	Length (km)	Length (mi)	Length (%)	Weekly diff (km)
12/30/2009	8,216,437,866	0.0%	520,355,702	0.0%	27,481,053	0.0%	20,184,494	12,542,063	0.0%	0
01/06/2010	8,242,646,586	0.3%	524,331,852	0.8%	27,628,461	0.5%	20,240,503	12,576,865	0.3%	56,009
01/13/2010	8,303,042,150	1.1%	530,023,428	1.9%	27,743,074	1.0%	20,298,175	12,612,701	0.6%	57,672
01/20/2010	8,360,042,709	1.7%	533,415,623	2.5%	27,858,701	1.4%	20,349,260	12,644,444	0.8%	51,085
01/29/2010	8,344,816,185	1.6%	537,760,243	3.3%	28,012,246	1.9%	20,430,089	12,694,669	1.2%	80,829
02/03/2010	8,404,336,612	2.3%	541,873,309	4.1%	28,096,426	2.2%	20,473,312	12,721,526	1.4%	43,223
02/10/2010	8,496,001,402	3.4%	548,107,464	5.3%	28,210,414	2.7%	20,527,015	12,754,896	1.7%	53,703
02/17/2010	8,591,230,912	4.6%	554,574,174	6.6%	28,365,139	3.2%	20,593,765	12,796,372	2.0%	66,750
02/24/2010	8,699,982,466	5.9%	561,881,993	8.0%	28,475,114	3.6%	20,650,722	12,831,764	2.3%	56,957
03/03/2010	8,777,869,017	6.8%	566,324,006	8.8%	28,578,075	4.0%	20,713,864	12,870,998	2.6%	63,142
03/10/2010	8,679,478,663	5.6%
03/17/2010	8,725,842,154	6.2%	571,040,732	9.7%	28,784,438	4.7%	20,815,336	12,934,050	3.1%	101,472
03/24/2010	8,794,264,828	7.0%	574,797,076	10.5%	28,924,444	5.3%	20,879,668	12,974,024	3.4%	64,332
04/01/2010	8,866,296,117	7.9%	579,087,517	11.3%	29,032,709	5.6%	20,943,114	13,013,448	3.8%	63,446
04/07/2010	8,960,454,826	9.1%	585,299,498	12.5%	29,147,400	6.1%	20,995,303	13,045,876	4.0%	52,189
04/14/2010	9,075,866,173	10.5%	593,072,533	14.0%	29,288,791	6.6%	21,057,859	13,084,747	4.3%	62,556
04/21/2010	9,164,287,612	11.5%	598,786,123	15.1%	29,430,513	7.1%	21,119,218	13,122,874	4.6%	61,359
04/28/2010	9,257,145,692	12.7%	604,455,269	16.2%	29,556,543	7.6%	21,181,255	13,161,422	4.9%	62,037
05/05/2010	9,485,424,113	15.4%	615,696,720	18.3%	29,691,249	8.0%	21,243,327	13,199,992	5.2%	62,072
05/12/2010	9,596,768,067	16.8%	622,887,207	19.7%	29,820,574	8.5%	21,304,692	13,238,121	5.5%	61,365
05/19/2010	9,716,584,080	18.3%	630,431,649	21.2%	29,957,866	9.0%	21,359,386	13,272,107	5.8%	54,694
05/26/2010	9,844,355,581	19.8%	638,741,651	22.8%	30,079,545	9.5%	21,420,541	13,310,107	6.1%	61,155
06/02/2010	10,026,036,818	22.0%	650,822,903	25.1%	30,196,302	9.9%	21,477,353	13,345,408	6.4%	56,812
06/09/2010	10,104,193,357	23.0%	655,570,275	26.0%	30,330,547	10.4%	21,539,162	13,383,814	6.7%	61,809
06/18/2010	10,211,036,403	24.3%	662,265,076	27.3%	30,462,335	10.8%	21,593,103	13,417,332	7.0%	53,941
06/23/2010	10,314,471,731	25.5%	669,185,992	28.6%	30,549,167	11.2%	21,631,886	13,441,431	7.2%	38,783
06/30/2010	10,487,907,176	27.6%	680,542,326	30.8%	30,666,257	11.6%	21,680,226	13,471,468	7.4%	48,340
07/07/2010	10,774,738,684	31.1%	686,936,783	32.0%	30,767,510	12.0%	21,724,378	13,498,902	7.6%	44,152
07/16/2010	10,970,290,860	33.5%	699,555,762	34.4%	30,947,177	12.6%	21,806,770	13,550,099	8.0%	82,392
07/21/2010	11,051,206,933	34.5%	704,211,816	35.3%	31,038,063	12.9%	21,849,691	13,576,768	8.2%	42,921
07/28/2010	11,158,593,106	35.8%	710,501,842	36.5%	31,164,123	13.4%	21,914,132	13,616,810	8.6%	64,441
08/04/2010	11,291,094,869	37.4%	718,830,583	38.1%	31,299,618	13.9%	21,981,748	13,658,825	8.9%	67,616
08/11/2010	11,404,239,476	38.8%	725,988,752	39.5%	31,434,242	14.4%	22,046,837	13,699,269	9.2%	65,089
08/18/2010	11,554,930,232	40.6%	735,321,630	41.3%	31,571,694	14.9%	22,119,211	13,744,240	9.6%	72,374
08/25/2010	11,729,341,799	42.8%	746,179,013	43.4%	31,708,967	15.4%	22,190,220	13,788,363	9.9%	71,009
09/01/2010	11,903,755,710	44.9%	756,922,313	45.5%	31,852,685	15.9%	22,263,267	13,833,753	10.3%	73,047
09/08/2010	12,043,422,742	46.6%	765,419,137	47.1%	31,993,903	16.4%	22,327,697	13,873,788	10.6%	64,430
09/15/2010	12,194,055,154	48.4%	774,548,304	48.8%	32,127,125	16.9%	22,403,375	13,920,812	11.0%	75,678
09/22/2010	12,302,951,919	49.7%	781,059,038	50.1%	32,254,748	17.4%	22,474,960	13,965,293	11.3%	71,585
09/29/2010	12,416,912,795	51.1%	788,037,002	51.4%	32,398,982	17.9%	22,559,371	14,017,743	11.8%	84,411
10/06/2010	12,540,744,335	52.6%	795,620,573	52.9%	32,519,407	18.3%	22,676,294	14,090,396	12.3%	116,923
10/13/2010	12,644,460,358	53.9%	801,562,971	54.0%	32,638,228	18.8%	22,729,507	14,123,461	12.6%	53,213
10/20/2010	12,797,735,867	55.8%	810,860,282	55.8%	32,751,796	19.2%	22,783,840	14,157,222	12.9%	54,333
10/27/2010	12,908,266,910	57.1%	817,455,277	57.1%	32,876,506	19.6%	22,838,235	14,191,021	13.1%	54,395
11/03/2010	13,040,185,862	58.7%	825,539,318	58.6%	32,996,683	20.1%	22,901,132	14,230,104	13.5%	62,897
11/10/2010	13,151,567,675	60.1%	832,188,114	59.9%	33,116,380	20.5%	22,961,385	14,267,543	13.8%	60,253
11/17/2010	13,263,825,430	61.4%	839,194,975	61.3%	33,252,561	21.0%	23,019,483	14,303,643	14.0%	58,098
11/24/2010	13,381,265,051	62.9%	846,519,930	62.7%	33,349,205	21.4%	23,056,711	14,326,776	14.2%	37,228
12/01/2010	13,562,793,117	65.1%	857,723,471	64.8%	33,466,847	21.8%	23,107,147	14,358,115	14.5%	50,436
12/08/2010	13,753,111,608	67.4%	868,526,595	66.9%	33,683,505	22.6%	23,203,217	14,417,810	15.0%	96,070
12/15/2010	13,916,167,364	69.4%	878,201,891	68.8%	33,896,782	23.3%	23,287,526	14,470,198	15.4%	84,309
12/22/2010	14,152,557,604	72.2%	893,111,088	71.6%	34,103,470	24.1%	23,375,911	14,525,117	15.8%	88,385
12/29/2010	14,359,437,887	74.8%	905,697,052	74.1%	34,294,564	24.8%	23,452,092	14,572,454	16.2%	76,181
01/05/2011	14,537,015,688	76.9%	916,349,756	76.1%	34,494,493	25.5%	23,541,399	14,627,947	16.6%	89,307
01/12/2011	14,752,535,791	79.5%	929,443,970	78.6%	34,745,758	26.4%	23,654,260	14,698,075	17.2%	112,861
01/19/2011	14,903,367,850	81.4%	938,392,397	80.3%	34,962,074	27.2%	23,747,682	14,756,125	17.7%	93,422
Total	614,207,391,972

Now, what can be read out of those pictures, numbers and charts? Here is Beyonav’s take on it:

New data was added all over the world, growing coverage is particularly visible in emerging regions of the planet The growth is surprisingly constant, that means a lot of dedicated mappers were actively working on the data Large problems were fixed reasonably quickly The total number of road mileage covered worldwide is very impressive with 24 million kilometers, and it reflects only about half of the total amount of data of the database, thus cartographic objects and POI counts are high as well Due to high frequency updates problems in the process were fixed and things moved on, there was no “going back and fix history” as seen with the corrupt file from March 10. The amount of data in the OSM database is reaching a level which makes it hard to process without expensive server infrastructure. This may be a reason why more commercial support around OSM maps surfaces. The server infrastructure seems to be very stable and well maintained, except for one corrupt file in one year, all weekly dumps were valid and published on time (reading the time stamps).

Leaving geographical quality, accuracy and consistency considerations aside for a moment and just looking at the coverage expansion trends and support around the live OSM map database, OSM seems to be ready for broad adoption in traditional navigation and LBS applications.

Beyonav is following this trend and will support the adoption with commercial support for OSM data in addition to commercial maps in the area of detailed statistics generation and analysis, map pre-processing and optimization for navigation, and LBS usage and publishing in industry standard formats as well as binary runtime formats.

 

Tags: OpenStreetMap, Planet OSM, Road Data