Open geospatial data at the intersection of digital commoning, digital humanitarianism, and digital capitalism: Transformations and tensions in OpenStreetMap

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Georg Glasze; Professor Dr. Boris Michel
• Subject Area: Human Geography
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 540688832

Situated in digital geography and employing methodologies of Science & Technology Studies (STS), this project examines transformations and tensions in the field of open geospatial data, digital commons, and volunteered geographic information. It analyzes the growing role of com-mercial platforms and humanitarian actors as well as the related introduction of new socio-technical practices such as machine learning in OpenStreetMap (OSM). In the context of OSM that relies heavily on the voluntary engagement of local communities of mappers, these deve-lopments have significant implications for geospatial data, both in terms of content and in terms of the practices of creating and governing it. As OSM geospatial data is integrated into more and more services, these implications are relevant to a broader range of services that extend well beyond OSM. This makes it necessary to situate research on OSM within the larger socio-economic and socio-technical contexts of digital capitalism and digital humanitarianism. The research project starts from the premise that there is a tension between OSM’s ethos as a project that builds on local knowledge and practices of digital commoning on the one hand and the concerns about remote and extractivist practices of institutional actors on the other. These concerns are articulated particularly by decolonial and feminist voices within the OSM community and raise questions about the power of mapping as well as organizational issues of participation, polyphony, and data sovereignty. The research project has three objectives: O1 Data: Analyzing the changing production and use of geographic knowledge in OSM. O2 Actors: Tracing interactions, intersections, and conflicts between the different groups of actors in OSM. O3 Governance: Examining the changing governance of OSM at the intersection between digital commoning, digital humanitarianism, and digital capitalism. These objectives will be addressed through two complementary case studies. The first study focuses on the strategies and policies of major institutional actors in OSM (commercial actors such as Meta and Microsoft, the newly formed Overture Maps Foundation as well as the Humanitarian OSM Team). Of particular interest are the relationships, conflicts, and tensions between these institutional actors and central actors in the OSM community. The second case study explores the practical interactions between local mapping communities and institutional actors at a local level. It focuses on the Philippines, a site where local communities of mappers interact, intersect, and struggle with actors and concepts of digital platform capitalism and the humanitarian sector.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Philippines
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Joseph Palis