The quality of OpenStreetMap in a large metropolis in northeast Brazil: Preliminary assessment of geospatial data for road axes

Abstract: This paper evaluates the data quality of road axes using the OpenStreetMap (OSM) collaborative mapping platform. OSM was chosen owing to the abundance of data and registered contributors (~ 6 million). We assumed the OSM collaborative data could complement the reference mappings by its quality parameters. We used the cartographic quality indicators of positional accuracy, thematic accuracy, and completeness to validate vector files from OSM. We analyzed the positional accuracy of linear features and we developed the automation of the positional accuracy process. The tool verified the completeness of road axes and thematic accuracy. The positional accuracy of linear features was also used, performed to obtain a range of scales, which reflected the characteristics of mapped areas and varied from 1:22,500 to 1:25,000. The completeness of road axes was 82% of the checked areas. By evaluating the thematic accuracy, we found that the absence of road axes toponymy in editions caused errors in the OSM features (i.e., 58% of road axes without information). As such, we concluded that collaborative data complements the reference cartography by measuring the heterogeneity of information in various regions and filtering the OSM data, despite its being useful for certain analyses.

摘要：本文依托开放街道地图（OpenStreetMap，OSM）协同制图平台，针对道路轴线的数据质量展开评估。选用OSM的原因在于其数据资源丰富，且注册贡献者数量约达600万。本研究假设OSM协同数据可通过自身质量参数对参考制图形成补充。我们采用位置精度、专题精度与完整性三类制图质量指标，对OSM矢量文件进行验证。分析了线性地物的位置精度，并开发了位置精度计算的自动化流程。该工具可核验道路轴线的完整性与专题精度。此外，借助线性地物的位置精度结果，推导得到一系列可反映制图区域特征的比例尺，其范围为1:22500至1:25000。经检测，受检区域内道路轴线的完整性占比达82%。通过对专题精度的评估，我们发现部分版本中缺失的道路轴线地名信息导致OSM地物出现错误（即58%的道路轴线未附带相关名称信息）。综上，尽管OSM数据在部分分析场景中具备应用价值，但通过测算不同区域的信息异质性并对OSM数据进行筛选，协同数据仍可对参考制图形成有效补充。