A Segmentation/Aggregation Protocol to Convert OpenStreetMap Data to Workable GIS Network Dataset

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative project to collect crowdsourced spatial network data to create a digital map of the entire planet. OSM has been successful in creating a rich transportation network database that contains information about various road characteristics such as road classification, speed, direction of traffic, etc. To utilize OSM data in transportation analysis, it needs to be converted from its original format to another file format, such as shapefile. This conversion process causes a loss of data that results in an inappropriate representation of road networks, especially at intersections. While modifying the data to fix this problem might be time consuming for a small study area, it becomes quite impossible as the study area increases. To solve this problem, this paper intends to develop a GIS-based tool that converts OSM data to a GIS network dataset with proper road segmentation. The tool segments roads where they intersect and avoids segmenting at overpasses and underpasses. In addition, the tool merges short road segments that artificially split at locations other than intersections. The output of the tool is a routable OSM dataset that ensures accurate calculations of urban indicators (e.g. intersection density) and reduces computational requirement for analysis.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABJ60 Standing Committee on Geographic Information Science and Applications.
  • Authors:
    • Masoud, Abdul Rahman
    • Idris, Ahmed Osman
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2018

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 11p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01664304
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 18-01581
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 27 2018 11:15AM