Introduction to OSM Analytics with ohsome

Room: Workshops I - Amphi Navier or Picard (Carnot)

Saturday, 14:30
Duration: 60 minutes (plus Q&A)

Language: en

This event will not be recorded.

• Michael Auer
• Rafael Troilo

This beginner-friendly workshop introduces the ohsome-dashboard as an accessible entry point to OpenStreetMap analytics — no coding skills required. Participants will learn how to explore OSM data through hands-on exercises, developing their own ohsome-filters with the help of the OSM-Wiki and TagInfo. These ohsome-filters are then applied to user-selected regions to investigate aspects such as attribute completeness, data currentness, and mapping activity. The workshop concludes with an outlook towards more advanced analyses, including changeset-based exploration and user statistics.

Additionally, an overview on the topic is planned as a talk.

This 60-minute workshop provides a hands-on introduction to OSM-Analytics using the ohsome-dashboard. It is specifically designed for beginners and does not require any programming or prior experience.

The session starts with a guided overview of the ohsome-dashboard interface and its core functionalities. Participants will learn how to define spatial and thematic queries, interact with visualizations, and interpret basic analytical results. The focus is on enabling participants to confidently explore OSM data without needing to write code.

A central part of the workshop consists of exercises, where participants will work step by step to develop their own ohsome-filters, combining tags and conditions to define specific features of interest. To support this process, we will actively use the OSM-Wiki and Taginfo as reference tools to better understand tagging schemes and common tag combinations. This helps participants not only to build ohsome-filters, but also gain a deeper understanding of how OSM data is modelled in theory and de-facto.

Once ohsome-filters are created, participants will apply them to regions of their choice. This allows them to explore real-world questions such as:

How complete is a certain attribute in a given area? 

How up-to-date is the data? 

How has mapping activity evolved over time? 

In the final part of the workshop, we will briefly introduce more advanced analytical possibilities, including working with changesets and exploring user-based statistics to better understand contribution patterns and community dynamics.

By the end of the workshop, participants will have a solid understanding of how to use the ohsome-dashboard for exploratory OSM analyses. They will be able to formulate their own questions, build suitable ohsome-filters, and interpret the results.