publications | Guy Solomon

2025

AAG

Diagnosing Spatial and Temporal Biases of OSM Contributors: Identifying Differences Between Gender and Age from an Online Survey

Hyesop Shin, Zoe Gardner, Guy Solomon, and 1 more author

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2025

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Citizen science projects are open and available to anyone to contribute data. The literature concerning volunteered geographic information, however, has demonstrated significant demographic participation biases across time and space. Understanding the significance and impacts of these biases is challenging due to privacy concerns, which lead to the (pseudo-)anonymity of contributors. Using a sample of 265 users, this article statistically analyzes edits to the crowdsourced mapping platform OpenStreetMap to examine the impact of gender and age on spatial and temporal contribution patterns. We find that men aged in the others group (i.e., below twenty-five or over fifty-four) made more contributions during the week and on weekends than those in the economically active age group (i.e., ages twenty-five through fifty-four). Using the Kruskal–Wallis test to compare temporal contributions between gender groups, the economically active group showed a significant gender difference on both weekdays and weekends, as well as the hours of the day, with men making more contributions than women regardless of age category. Men in the others group made the most contributions overall. Calculating the Simpson Index of Diversity for user edits reveals that women have more limited spatial interests (i.e., they contribute to fewer countries) than their male counterparts, suggesting particular spatial preferences by gender.
GISRUK

Estimating urban areas using historical census data and the H3 grid

Guy Solomon

In 33rd Annual Geographical Information Science Research UK Conference (GISRUK), Apr 2025

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Historical (1851-1911) urban areas in England and Wales have often been derived from population data, which typically utilise census administrative units. However, these frequently fail to conform to the spatial boundaries of urban settlements. Recent developments in the geocoding of individuals enumerated by the census to a street level now facilitate a re-evaluation of this approach. Utilising Uber’s H3 grid, this paper outlines a method for estimating urban areas at each historical decennial census, using 1901 as a case study.

2024

Complexity

The Mesolevel Economy in Nineteenth-Century England and Wales: Applying Input-Output Accounting and Spatial Interaction Modelling to the Historical Study

Guy S. Solomon, and Alan G. Wilson

Complexity, Apr 2024

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This paper is offered as a contribution to understanding historical trade. The method of input-output modelling is utilised to evaluate the evolution of cities (and their associated regions) in England and Wales between 1851 and 1911. The construction of input-output accounts for each city region is based on “heroic” data assumptions, which enable the construction of a demonstration model illustrating a new iterative approach to historical analysis. In its current application, the model enables estimates to be made of mesolevel trade between cities, which enhances our analysis of urban evolution in this period.
AGILE

Evaluating geotemporal behaviours of OpenStreetMap contributors

G. Solomon, D. Sutton, M. Polat Kayali, and 3 more authors

AGILE: GIScience Series, Apr 2024

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Volunteered Geographic Information (‘VGI’) and crowdsourcing are integral for projects such as Open- StreetMap (‘OSM’). However, despite the wide use of OSM as one of the most successful crowdsourcing platforms, the under-representation of certain demographic groups amongst those who contribute information may ultimately mean this information favours the interests of some groups over others. This can result in misleading conclusions for analyses conducted on the basis of these data. This paper connects OSM user contributions to demographic data collected via a survey. It shows that, in relation to geographic diversity of contributions, men and women demonstrate distinct trends over time. It then considers the extent to which this observed pattern can be seen as influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, it concludes that there does not appear to be a distinct ‘pandemic effect’ divergent from longer-term trends.
YouTube

Living with Machines: Census data

The Alan Turing Institute

2024

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2023

GISRUK

Input-output analytics for urban systems: explorations in policy and planning

Griffith Rees, Guy Solomon, Bowen Zhang, and 1 more author

In 31st Annual Geographical Information Science Research UK Conference (GISRUK), 2023

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We develop an inter-region input-output economic model of future challenges and appropriate policies. We initially focus on the UK—developing an analytic tool for the ‘levelling up’ agenda: to examine the characteristics of economically ‘good’ versus ‘poor’ cities and to explore policies aimed to shift cities from poor to good. Our method has potential application to equivalent challenges at varying scales and in other countries. The analysis is distinctive: estimate 48 city input-output accounts and the trading relationships between them via a novel incorporation of travel costs. Temporal extensions facilitate a scalable method to model future scenarios of policy outcomes.
SocArXiv

History Through Computer Models: The Evolution of Cities in the Nineteenth Century

Guy Solomon, and Alan Wilson

SocArXiv preprint, 2023

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This paper is offered as a contribution to facilitating the integration of qualitative and quantitative analysis in historical study. The method of input-output modelling is applied to the study of the evolution of the cities of England and Wales between 1851 and 1911. The construction of input-output accounts for each city (or city region) is based on ‘heroic’ data assumptions, which enable the construction of a demonstration model illustrating a new iterative approach to historical analysis. In its current application, the model enables estimates to be made of meso-level trade between cities, which enhances our analysis of urban evolution in this period.
GeoSocial

Assessing the Relationship Between Socio-Demographic Characteristics and OpenStreetMap Contributor Behaviours

Dominick Sutton, Guy Solomon, Xinyi Yuan, and 3 more authors

In 1st ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geocomputational Analysis of Socio-Economic Data (GeoSocial 2023), 2023

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Volunteered Geographic Information’ (VGI) has particular importance – in part – for its democratisation of geographic information. However, some recent research has suggested that despite being publicly open, several successful VGI platforms have under-representation of particular socio-demographic groups, which may lead to biases in the types of information contributed. This paper examines the relationship between demographic characteristics and user contributions to OpenStreetMap (OSM), one of the most successful examples of a project reliant on VGI. It demonstrates statistically significant differences in the information provided by users of different genders, ages, and education-levels. Differences between the demographic characteristics of OSM contributors and the underlying population are therefore likely to be reflected in the VGI contained in OSM.
YouTube

Living with Machines: On Collaboration

The Alan Turing Institute

2023

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2022

C&C

Work and earning in the nineteenth century: Townley Colliery as a case study

Guy Solomon

Continuity and Change, 2022

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This article demonstrates the varied and unpredictable nature of earning in the nineteenth century. Using 12,000 fortnightly pay entries from Townley Main Colliery in the north-east of England as a case study, it explores the extent to which the availability of work fluctuated between years, and how workers reacted to this phenomenon. It then considers the frequency with which these individuals undertook the work which was available, and discusses the implications for our understanding of the length of the working year.