Mapping of populated places in OpenStreetMap

Populated places are probably among elements of human geography those you can most widely find represented in maps in general. I here want to discuss a bit the somewhat peculiar situation of their mapping in OpenStreetMap. Populated places on small scale map – Carte de l’Afrique à l’echelle de 1/5M, 1929 Populated places on larger scale map – Survey of India 1:126k Sheet 72C/SW, 1937 First: What is a populated place? Humans throughout history when developing a non-nomadic lifestyle have had the tendency to settle in a highly non-uniform pattern across the land they live on. They tend to settle in local concentrations colloquially called settlements. In the context of geographic data and cartography the term populated place is usually used more often, which is not exactly a synonym for settlement, but closely related, i am going to explain that relationship in the following. Settlements in general should not be understood to be strictly discrete. The non-uniform patterns of human…