Assessing completeness of global airport data in OSM

Airports are not only important infrastructure for both civil and military use but also have significant impacts on socio-economic development and the built-up environment. OpenStreetMap (OSM) can be an essential data source for acquiring various airport elements, but few studies have investigated data quality. To fill this gap, this study aims to assess the quality (especially completeness) of airport data in OSM by comparing it with locations of airports acquired from the OurAirports platform. More precisely, the three different types (large, medium, and small) and the four different elements (runway, taxiway, apron, and terminal) of airports are assessed for over 40,000 airports worldwide. Results show that completeness varies depending on types, elements, and geographical regions. Specifically, 1) almost all large airports are complete; most medium airports are also complete; but most small airports are not complete. 2) The runway element is much more complete than the terminal element. 3) In most cases, completeness is relatively high in India, China, and Northern Africa but relatively low in Canada, the United States, Russia, and Australia, where the total number of airports is much larger. We conclude that most large and medium airports in OSM have been mapped well. The reasons for incomplete airport data in OSM and potential applications of OSM airport data are also discussed.