BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//pretalx//talks.osgeo.org//foss4g-2026//talk//X3MSKD BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:JST BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20000101T000000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=1 TZNAME:JST TZOFFSETFROM:+0900 TZOFFSETTO:+0900 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-foss4g-2026-X3MSKD@talks.osgeo.org DTSTART;TZID=JST:20260902T130000 DTEND;TZID=JST:20260902T133000 DESCRIPTION:Introduction \n\nUrban platform capitalism relies on spatial da tabases such as OpenStreetMap (OSM) to connect people with nearby services and commodities (Michel and Schröder-Bergen 2022\; Alvarez Leon 2024\, p . 139). The set of features in OSM thus influences the set of locations th at users of these platforms can know about and interact with (Graham and D ittus 2022\, p. 17-18). Given the power of OSM to both represent and shape places\, there is a need for deep place-based studies of OSM evolution\, completeness\, quality\, and utility\, with a focus on social and economic dynamics behind the map’s production (Schröder-Bergen et al. 2025). O f particular interest are those who add high-value information from local knowledge\, as well as remote contributors and corporate mappers who stand ardize data tags and topology for smoother integration into platforms. \n\ nResearch purpose and questions \n\nThis research offers an example of a d eeply place-based and contributor-focused study of OSM by presenting “ t he story of OSM in a small town”. I reconstruct the history of OSM’s d evelopment in Othello\, Washington\, USA (population 9001) using qualitati ve and quantitative data from the OSM history extracts\, changeset comment s\, user profiles\, and a walking survey of the town’s main thoroughfare s. \n\nOthello’s rural economy is supported principally by farming and frozen food processing. Latino immigrants and their descendants play a maj or role in the town’s daily life: over 79% of residents identify as Hisp anic or Latino\, compared with 15% for Washington state. Approximately 24% of Othello’s residents are considered by the US Census Bureau as living in poverty\, compared with about 10% for Washington state (https://www.ce nsus.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/othellocitywashington/PST045224). \n\nIn t his study\, I focus on the influence of local mappers\, one-time contribut ors to the project\, corporate mappers\, and armchair hobbyists\, includin g the kinds of features contributed by each. In particular\, I ask: \n\nWh en did the map begin to be infused with local knowledge that would be diff icult to trace or import from remote locations? \n\nWhat can we determine about the contributors who added this local knowledge\, especially their r egion of residence and level of involvement in the project? \n\nWhat kinds of activity by corporate editors can be detected in this place? \n\nWhen we walk the streets of Othello\, how much information matches what we see in OSM? What kinds of things are present or missing? \n\nThis study demons trates how FOSS4G attendees and other researchers could combine OSM histor y files\, public profiles\, and on-the-ground surveys to learn more about OSM data quality and completeness\, especially in rural or low-income regi ons. \n\n \n\nMethods \n\nI gathered the edit history of OSM in Othello by downloading the OSM full history extract from Geofabrik for the US West r egion (download.geofabrik.de)\, along with the full changeset history from planet.osm.org. I used the osmconvert utility to help narrow down the edi ts to only those within the Othello city limits. I used Python text parsin g functions for cleaning\, reading\, and organizing the data. I studied al l unredacted edit information for nodes and ways from the year 2007 until 31 January 2026. \n\nFor each of the 383 changesets in Othello\, I examin ed the extent and type of the edits\, along with any comments or hashtags left by the contributor and discussion from the user community. I browsed the contributor’s public OSM profile page for any disclosure of home loc ation\, editing interests\, or corporate affiliations. I also used Pascal Neis’ utilities How Did You Contribute to OSM and Your OSM Heat Map to u nderstand the contributor’s activity levels and preferred editing locati ons \n\nI evaluated the current state of the map in Othello by downloadin g all OSM data for the town on 31 January 2026 using the QuickOSM utility in QGIS. I compared the content of those datasets with information I gathe red from a ground survey of Othello that same day. I walked 6.8 kilometers of street frontage of two commercial thoroughfares\, recording all visibl e institutions such as businesses\, places of worship\, government offices \, and nonprofit organizations. \n\nPreliminary Results \n\nOSM in Othello has been built by a diverse set of 122 contributors. Thirty-six of those edited the town on more than one day\, and only two of them edited more th an 10 days. Many of the most active contributors have at least regional ti es\, with either a home location or substantial mapping history within Was hington state. Some of the mappers with the most detailed local knowledge edited on only one day. The amount of mapping activity in Othello has vari ed greatly from year to year\, but was highest in 2025. \n\nI found corpor ate mapping activity by Mapbox\, Meta\, Microsoft\, and Telenav. These com panies focused on improving the positioning and topological integrity of t he road network\, with the latter two primarily editing driveways and park ing lots. Several other companies appeared to be engaged in brand promotio n by adding metadata tags to businesses. \n\nOut of 154 institutions ident ified in the walking survey\, 29 were in OSM (18.8%). Half of the 26 natio nal chain businesses in the Othello survey were represented in OSM\, a sub stantially higher representation than other institutions. Institutions wit h Spanish-language words or names in the title\, or those selling products aimed at the Hispanic/Latino population\, had 13.3% representation in OSM (4 out of 30). \n\nOthello has a largely complete and accurate street net work in OSM\, and extensive coverage of building footprints that make the map look detailed\; however\, many of the institutions that contribute to day-to-day livelihoods in the town are absent from OSM and its representat ion of place. \n\nReferences \n\nAlvarez Leon\, L. (2024). The Map in the Machine. University of California Press. \n\n \n\nGraham\, M.\, & Dittus\ , M. (2022). Geographies of Digital Exclusion. Pluto Press. \n\n \n\nMiche l\, B.\, & Schröder-Bergen\, S. (2022). The Politics of Geodata in Urban Platform Capitalism. In A. Strüver & S. Bauriedl (Eds.)\, Platformisation of Urban Life: Towards a Technocapitalist Transformation of European Citi es. transcript Verlag. \n\n \n\nSchröder-Bergen\, S.\, Michel\, B.\, Glas ze\, G.\, & Dammann\, F. (2025). Open Geospatial Data within Digital Capit alism: OpenStreetMap and the Overture Maps Foundation. Cartographica\, 60( 3)\, 160–172. https://doi.org/10.3138/cart-2024-0030 DTSTAMP:20260717T234906Z LOCATION:Cosmos2 SUMMARY:Global contributors\, local maps: the story of OpenStreetMap in a s mall town - Sterling Quinn URL:https://talks.osgeo.org/foss4g-2026/talk/X3MSKD/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR