Analysing the growth of OpenStreetMap networks

In this article we analyse the growth of OpenStreetMap (OSM) representations for three street networks in Ireland. In each case we demonstrate the growth to be governed by two elementary spatial processes of densification and exploration which are responsible for increasing the local density of the network and expanding the network into new areas respectively. We also examine summary statistics describing each network topology and show these to be a consequence of the same processes. This represents the discovery of a novel link between different aspects of the growth.