Statistical analysis on the evolution of OpenStreetMap road networks in Beijing

In recent years, extensive efforts have been paid on the investigation of OpenStreetMap (OSM) in developed countries, but little attention has been given to the cities in developing countries. This paper presents the results regarding the evolution of OSM road networks in Beijing, China, from four aspects. First, findings from general analysis indicate that (1) the overall growth pattern could be mainly explained by the increasing number of volunteers and their mapping contributions. Second, findings from geometric analysis suggest: (2) mapping intensity exhibits heavy-tailed pattern both for a certain time period and across time; (3) mapping direction moves from outskirts to downtown distinguished from other regions; and (4) mapping behaviors are mainly constrained by the underlying structure of road networks. Third, results of topological analysis indicate that (5) OSM road networks resemble the growth of real road networks and are undergoing an evolution process depicted by exploration and densification. Last, from the perspective of centrality analysis, (6) two kinds of nodes are identified with the ones accounting for the exploration and the other ones for the densification, which further hints the evolution process of continuous strong exploration accompanied by weak densification.