Since 2004, the OpenStreetMap project aims to create an extremely accurate map of the world based on collective intelligence and inviting people to map their street, their neighborhood or their town themselves.

There are many ways to contribute to the OSM project. The simple contribution aims at correcting the errors found and concerning a street or the location of a building but also at adding new information (street name, one-way street, omission of any route, points of interest, restaurants, schools....), drawing new objects from aerial images, GPS recordings, photos or any other geolocatable element.

In France, thousands of contributors have mapped in detail entire areas of our territory.

Contributors can be individuals or institutions. The latter can contribute by providing data. This is the case, in France, of the urban community of Brest, the cities of Nantes, Rennes, Toulouse or Montpellier, regions such as Auvergne or certain administrations (the General Directorate of Taxes for the land register).

The OpenStreetMap community had 20,000 registered members worldwide in 2008, 500,000 in November 2011, 1,000,000 in December 2012: the milestone of 4 million was passed in July 2017.

The number of active contributors in the world varies, depending on the month, between 40,000 and 50,000 (i.e. 1% of registered users).

A researcher at the University of Boulder (Colorado), Jennings Anderson, set out in 2016 to assess, with the help of MapBox, the number of contributors by country and year.

40,000 contributors in France in 2016

Moreover, thanks to Pascal Neis, we have daily statistics on the modifications (additions or corrections) in the OpenStreetMap database as well as on the geographical origin of their authors.

On July 1, 2017, of the 3143 contributors to OpenStreetMap worldwide, 170 were based in France (5.4% of the total), behind contributors based in Germany (437 contributors, 13.9% of the total), the United States (214, 6.8%) or Russia (207, 6.6%).

Around 170 contributors every day in France

To trace the evolution of the number of contributors each day in France over 6 years (2011-2017), we have selected the day of July 1st. The number of French or France-based daily contributors has increased from 142 on July 1st, 2011 to 211 on July 1st, 2013, and then dropped to 170 on July 1st, 2017.

Also for this day of July 1, we observe a steady decline in the number of nodes created: their number goes from 328,975 on July 1, 2011 to ten times less six years later (31,826). This decrease is logical since the national territory is now quite widely documented. Symmetrically, the number of corrections (modified nodes) has doubled over the same period: 16,161 corrections were recorded on July 1, 2011, 31,826 creations six years later.

OpenStreetMap contributors: 38 years old on average and graduates

Their survey is based, in particular, on a questionnaire. The 298 responses obtained have enabled us to draw up a portrait of the contributors: male (88% of respondents), 38 years old on average, with a high level of qualification (58% of respondents have at least a Master's degree), occupying an engineering position in the private sector (31% of respondents) or in the public service (14%).

More than 40% of respondents live in a municipality with more than 100,000 inhabitants, while the national average is 15%.

A more detailed analysis highlights the existence of two main age groups: the first around 28/30 years, the second around 42 years.

This level of training is strongly correlated with the profession exercised : about 46% of the contributors hold engineering and management positions (in the public sphere or in companies), a little more than 10% of them are teachers, 9% technicians and 7% students or pupils.

Almost 60% of respondents have taken training in computer science (as part of their studies/work), 25% have taken training in geography, geomatics and cartography. Only 19% of respondents have not taken any training in these three areas (either as part of their studies or professional activities),

More than 50% of respondents discovered OSM between 2008 and 2010.

Nearly 60% of respondents say they have met people through OSM and over 70% say they feel part of a collective.

52%) of respondents (52%) participate in other community projects (Wikipedia, Media Commons, open source software, Hot projects or Open Food Fact).

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