This talk presents an initial inquiry into the relations between the Academic and Mapping communities in OpenStreetMap, based on a review of recent publications, interviews of colleagues, and self-reflection of the authors. By this, we aim to understand how and when research-community interactions come to be, what is their nature, and how can these be improved and made more productive for both sides.

In this talk, large scale data production events in OSM are identified, characterized, and their spatio-temporal patterns and impacts are analyzed. The results show that remote mapping events produce more data today than bulk imports, yet that the former type has a more lasting impact on representation, hence pointing towards possible steps for maximizing the positive influences of events of different types.