Assessing the Completeness of Geographical Data

Geographical databases are often incomplete, especially when built up incrementally and by volunteers. A prominent example is OpenStreetMap. Often such databases contain also metadata saying that certain features are completely captured for certain areas. We show how to use such metadata to analyse in which areas queries return a complete answer. Such “completeness areas” can be computed via standard spatial operations. Still larger completeness areas can be derived if not only metadata but also the actual content of the database is taken into account. Finally, we discuss which challenges arise if one wants to practically utilize the completeness metadata in OpenStreetMap.