Over the last two decades, OpenStreetMap (OSM) has evolved into a global, community-generated source of spatio-temporal geodata. Volunteers continuously document infrastructure, land use, transportation networks, environmental features and other spatial entities that are often not covered in comparable detail or at the same temporal resolution by national mapping agencies. This global grassroots mapping effort creates a continuously evolving record of changes in geographical space, reflecting processes such as urban growth, agricultural transformation, natural hazards and disasters, and the spatial impacts of global environmental change.

OSM data are increasingly combined with governmental topographic data, research datasets and remote sensing observations to support research and generate new insights across the geosciences. However, the long-term preservation and scientific reuse of this evolving data commons raises important challenges. These include the preservation of spatio-temporal versions, FAIR access, persistent scientific citation, provenance documentation, reproducibility and cartographic reuse.

This session invites contributions addressing the use, preservation and scientific exploitation of OpenStreetMap as a spatio-temporal data commons. We particularly welcome use cases, methodological approaches and lessons learned from different branches of the geosciences, as well as contributions discussing challenges and opportunities for long-term preservation, provenance, FAIR principles, citation, reproducibility and integration with other geospatial data sources.