Introduction

When analyzing OSM data, it is important to be able to understand the users making edits to the map. In this training you will learn how to analyze OSM community user profiles to determine editor trustworthiness by looking at their editing goals and history. This skill will be helpful when analyzing whether particular edits are positive or negative contributions to the map, especially when there is little information available about the feature itself or you are unsure why the feature was changed.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of how to use ID Editor/JOSM
Knowledge of how to view/analyze changeset history

Skill Instruction

User Profile

There are multiple ways to view a users profile.

To view a user profile:

Go to https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/ followed by their username after the last forward slash.
JOSM:
- OSM obj info plugin
- History window
ID Editor/Rapid:
- View the history of a feature and click on their username.
Etc.

Here you can see their:

Profile description
How long they have been an OSM user
How many changesets they have contributed
If they've added GPS traces to the map
Current/previous blocks
Etc.

All of these things will help you get to know the editor to see what kind of mapper they are.

How Did You Contribute (HDYC)

If there isn't enough information in the user's profile you can also look them up using How Did You Contribute (HDYC).

To use this tool you can:

Go to the website via this link.
Use the OSM obj info plugin and select an object, then click on the black silhouette under User.

You will have to login using your OSM account.

This page will have more information about the editor including but not limited to:

General Information
Editing Stats
Mapping Activity

General Information

General information gives you more details about the editor.

Some key points include:
Name	Their username and a link to their profile
Registered	When they created their account
Organized editing	Name of the organization and a link to the group
Map changes	Total edits they've made
Discussed changeset	Link to all of their discussed changesets
Active mapping days	Shows how active they've been over the last year Hovering over an active day will show you how many changesets they made and the date they were made
Additional info	Active contributor: Links to OSMF info. Mapping days: Total mapping days. Type: Title based on how active they are. Recent changesets: Give details on where they were last editing. Recent ranks: Links to country stat pages they've recently edited in. Changeset discussions: Number of discussions they've participated in and links to view them. Rollbacks performed:Number of changesets that have been reverted by other editors (doesn't always mean the edits were bad)

Editing Stats

This section gives you more detailed information about their editing stats.

These include:

An overview of created, modified, and deleted features.
An overview of common tags you used/affected.
An overview of common hashtags, words used in comments, changes, and stats on your changesets.

These can help you learn about the types of edits they are making and what kind of comments they are using on their changesets.

Mapping Activity

The activity section provides detailed information about the areas where a user edits and the tools they utilize.

This includes:
Main & latest activity	Shows the main activity on the map. Click the link to see the latest activity on the map.
First & latest changeset	Shows the locations on the map with links for the first/latest changesets.
Overview of activity over the years	Bar graph that shows years at the bottom and days on the left.
What editing platforms/tools they use	Has a list of editing tools/platforms and how many edits have been made with each.
Changesets per week/hour	Shows what days/hours the editor is most active.
A list of all the countries they've worked in	Shows each country and how many changes/changesets they made in each.

It is good practice to look at all of the provided information to learn more about the editor. This will help you determine if their edits can be trusted, if you need to keep digging for more information, or if you need to ask them clarifying questions about their edits.

Changeset Comments

Changeset comments can tell you a lot about the edits that were made, sources that were used, the project that was being worked on, etc. A well written comment will give you all the necessary details about the edits that were made whereas a poorly written comment will be vague, use key smashing or in some cases may make accusations about another editors edits. For more information on changeset comments see the Kaart: OSM Communication Best Practices page.

You can view changeset comments in both JOSM and ID Editor.

JOSM

To view changeset comments in JOSM:

Select a feature.
Use the hotkey Ctrl + H to open the history window.
You can now view the changeset comment for any of the listed versions.

For more information on how to use the JOSM History viewer see the Kaart: OSM Deep History page.

ID Editor

To view changeset comments in ID:
Select a feature.
Click on View on openstreetmap.org on the bottom left. This will open the history for the selected feature.
You can now view the changeset comment for any of the listed versions. Note: ID Editor does not compare changeset history side by side like JOSM does.

How to Analyze a Comment

Now that you can see changeset comments you need to learn how to analyze them.

Look for:
Username	Based on their name are they a local editor or a foreign editor? Does their name indicate they work with an Organized mapping group? Are they a newer editor or experienced editor?
Edits that were made	Compare this to the actual edits that were made to verify its accuracy.
Sources	Verify sources when you are able to.
Imagery	Verify the imagery they used to confirm their edits.
Projects(where available)	Go to the project to see the project scope. This will tell you what edits they were supposed to make.
Strange comments	This could be a lack of a comment, random letters/symbols, comments that suggest sources that aren't available to the public, etc.

All of these will give you the information you need to determine if you need to look further into a users edits or not.

Practical Application

You will use these skills on a regular basis when investigating the edits of other editors.

Kaart: OSM Users

Contents

Introduction

Prerequisites

Skill Instruction

User Profile