28 December, 2009 In my previous analysis of OpenStreetMap (OSM)
data, I compared it to the Index of Deprivation, as a way to
understand if there is any socio-economic spatial pattern in the
coverage of OSM. Following numerous interactions with various
parts of the OSM community, I had suspected that there might be
a bias, with the result that affluent areas might be mapped more
completely than deprived areas. I explored this systematically,
as only empirical analysis could provide evidence one way or
another. Here are the details of the analytical process that was
used. The core data that was used for the comparison is the UK
government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 (IMD 2007) which
is calculated from a combination of governmental datasets and
provides a score for each Lower Level Super Output Area (LSOA)
in England. The position of each LSOA was used to calculate the
percentile position within the IMD 2007. Each percentile point
includes about 325 LSOAs. Areas that are in the bottom
percentile are th