Dataset of origin and destination pairs in street networks, for the evaluation of the Earth Mover's Distance as a metric of alignment
type: Dataset
description: This dataset was created as part of my PhD Project at the Department of Computing Science investigating how map readers perceive the complexity of routes displayed on a digital map. As part of my PhD project, I have conducted two experiments where participants have been asked to judge the complexity of different routes and describe what made them look more complex. Some of the routes that the participants were shown were in grid-like street networks, and when describing why these routes look complex, they sometimes described the routes as either aligned or misaligned. As an example, a path can be described as to follow the street, if the destination is oriented in alignment with the primary orientations in the street network; and it can be said to cross the river, or to cross the street, if the orientation is misaligned. This triggered an investigation into how the alignment between the orientation of the origin and destination of a route with(in) how the streets are oriented in the surrounding street network. The primary dataset contains 79,987 Origin and Destination pairs (OD-pair) that have been sampled from five locations in 100 different cities to evaluate the Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) between circular distributions as a metric of alignment. Where a higher EMD is indicative of a higher degree of misalignment between the orientations. The dataset was used to test whether a higher EMD is predictive of longer and more complex routes, and compare it to other predictors including properties of the street network that earlier research have identied as sources of route complexity.
alternate name: OD-pair Street network alignment Data
citation: Krantz-Horned, A., Falomir, Z., and Richter, K.-F. (2025). Measuring Alignment with the Grid: Evaluating the Earth Mover’s Distance as a Metric of Alignment between Orientations. Submitted manuscript.
conditions of access: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/access-right/PUBLIC
conditions of access: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
copyright notice: The dataset is created with data provided by OpenStreetMap under the Open Database License.
creative work status: completed
  type: DefinedTerm
  in defined term set: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/dataset-status
  term code: COMPLETED
creator: Umeå University
creator: Arvid Krantz-Horned
creator: Kai-Florian Richter
creator: Zoe Falomir
date modified: 2026-03-09
date published: 2026-03-09
funding: Grant
  funder: Umeå University
language: English
is based on: https://www.openstreetmap.org/
is part of: https://doi.org/10.71540/2dkp-2056
keywords: Geometry
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 10102
keywords: Computational Mathematics
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 10105
keywords: Probability Theory and Statistics
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 10106
keywords: Computer Sciences
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 10201
keywords: Human Geography
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 50701
keywords: geographic information system
keywords: alignment
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 38263
keywords: cognition
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 40587
keywords: ~ orientation
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 48712
keywords: urban environment
keywords: network analysis
license: https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/
publisher: Umeå University
size: QuantitativeValue
  unit text: variables
  value: 33
temporal coverage: 2025-04-01/2025-09-20
distribution: data/odpair_city_sample_nodes.csv
  type: DataDownload
  additional type: data
  conditions of access: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/access-right/PUBLIC
  conditions of access: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  content size: 45724
  encoding format: text/csv
distribution: data/odpair_data.csv
  type: DataDownload
  additional type: data
  conditions of access: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/access-right/PUBLIC
  conditions of access: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  content size: 147251945
  encoding format: text/csv
distribution: documentation/odpair_README.txt
  type: DataDownload
  additional type: documentation
  conditions of access: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/access-right/PUBLIC
  conditions of access: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  content size: 15068
  encoding format: text/plain
version: 1

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.71540/gmb4-cf38

Umeå University
type: Organization
department: Department of Computing Science
department: Department of Computing Sciences
name: Department of Computing Science at Umeå University

Arvid Krantz-Horned
type: Person
affiliation: Umeå University
family name: Krantz-Horned
given name: Arvid

Kai-Florian Richter
type: Person
affiliation: Umeå University
family name: Richter
given name: Kai-Florian

Zoe Falomir
type: Person
affiliation: Umeå University
family name: Falomir
given name: Zoe

English
type: Language
alternate name: eng

geographic information system
type: DefinedTerm
description: [GEMET] An organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, and personnel designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced information that can be drawn from different sources, both statistical and mapped.
term code: 20295

urban environment
type: DefinedTerm
term code: c_29062

network analysis
type: DefinedTerm
term code: c_5144