Open Geospatial Data within Digital Capitalism: OpenStreetMap and the Overture Maps Foundation
Schröder-Bergen S, Michel B, Glasze G, Dammann F (2025)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2025
Journal
Book Volume: 60
Pages Range: 160-172
Journal Issue: 3
Abstract
This article contributes to the debate on the role of open geospatial data in digital capitalism. Geospatial data with uniform global coverage and high spatial and temporal resolutions are essential for many digital platform services. A few commercial providers of geospatial data, particularly Google, have dominated the field. A prominent alternative for geospatial data is the open and community-based geodatabase OpenStreetMap. In recent years, OpenStreetMap data have become more relevant to large digital platforms, and several large commercial players have become involved in this project. This involvement has not been without conflict, because the contradictory rationalities of commercial interests and digital commons clash here. This article examines key developments in the reorganization of the geospatial data domain. First, the authors work out the fundamental importance of geospatial data for many services on the large platforms of digital capitalism. Using Meta/Facebook as an example, they reconstruct how this platform company became involved with OpenStreetMap and how its engagement is received by the OpenStreetMap community. They then suggest understanding the establishment of the Overture Maps Foundation in 2022 by three large digital platform companies and one geospatial service provider as a reaction to the tensions between commercial actors and the digital commons OpenStreetMap.
Authors with CRIS profile
Susanne Schröder-Bergen
Institut für Geographie
Georg Glasze
Chair in Cultural Geography
Finn Dammann
Institut für Geographie
Involved external institutions
Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Schröder-Bergen, S., Michel, B., Glasze, G., & Dammann, F. (2025). Open Geospatial Data within Digital Capitalism: OpenStreetMap and the Overture Maps Foundation. Cartographica, 60(3), 160-172. https://doi.org/10.3138/cart-2024-0030
MLA:
Schröder-Bergen, Susanne, et al. "Open Geospatial Data within Digital Capitalism: OpenStreetMap and the Overture Maps Foundation." Cartographica 60.3 (2025): 160-172.
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