The paper, OpenStreetMap: User-Generated Street Maps, explores the OpenStreetMap project, including its technological and social operation in its early phase (2004-2008).
The OpenStreetMap project, which was started at UCL in 2004 by Steve Coast, is dedicated to creating a digital map of the world, which can be distributed and shared freely. Some have referred to it as a ‘Wikipedia for maps’.
Over the eighteen years since its publication, OpenStreetMap has evolved into critical digital infrastructure. Its openly maintained geographic data supports research, humanitarian response, navigation systems, smart cities, and countless location-based services. Companies including Amazon (via Amazon Web Services), Microsoft, Apple, and Meta rely on OpenStreetMap data to provide services to their users.
There are over 8,300 papers that use OpenStreetMap within their research, according to the OpenAlex.org database. The paper itself has 3,100 citations in OpenAlex (and 4,200 on Google Scholar), becoming the standard reference for OpenStreetMap.
The Test of Time Award is presented by IEEE Pervasive Computing; it honours the most influential papers that have had a lasting impact on pervasive computing over the past 25 years.
On what it means to receive the award, Professor Muki told us:
It is a pleasure to see the publication being recognised by the pervasive computing community. As an interdisciplinary researcher with an identity that is linked to geography and computer science in my background, pervasive computing is an area of interest. I knew that the paper was popular, but it is welcome to learn that it is appreciated by the community of researchers in this field.
Congratulations to Professor Muki and Patrick Weber on this remarkable achievement!
Professor Muki Haklay joined UCL in 2001, becoming a professor in 2011. His research interests include public access to environmental information and the way in which the information is used by a wide range of stakeholders, citizen science and in particular applications that involve community-led investigation, development and use of participatory GIS and mapping, and Human-Computer Interaction for geospatial technologies.
Access the paper
Read, download and share 'OpenStreetMap: User-Generated Street Maps'.
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Interact with and find out more about the OpenStreetMap project.
OpenStreetMap
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