Exploring the use of crowdsourced geographic information in defence: challenges and opportunities

Geographic data are used by United Kingdom (UK) defence for purposes including peacekeeping, humanitarian aid and disaster relief, and fighting wars. The geographic extent of defence data covers the world, with greater focus directed towards areas considered to be of current interest. Traditionally, these data have been officially sourced, e.g. via National Mapping Agencies, but there is now increasing interest in the potential of crowdsourced geographic data to supplement authoritative data where they are not available, outdated or incomplete. Volunteered geographic information (VGI) and social media have the potential to provide this needed missing information. This paper presents initial work carried out in identifying the potential of crowdsourced geographic information in defence. We first provide a short description of the role of UK defence and review the existing literature on crowdsourced geographic information in defence, as well as generic VGI quality assessment methods. We then explore the potential of crowdsourced data in real-world applications: the conflation of VGI and social media with official data for effective decision-making in war zones, and the potential for crowdsourcing to increase effective collaboration between machines and humans in disaster situations. Based on our review, we outline specific research challenges for deploying crowdsourced geographic information in defence, focussing on data quality and fitness-for-purpose assessment. Defence-specific constraints include the need for rapid quality assessment processes and the need to communicate high-quality information effectively in situations where rapid decision-making is required. Ethical issues are also of fundamental importance

Analyzing the Tagging Quality of the Spanish OpenStreetMap

In this paper, a framework for the assessment of the quality of OpenStreetMap is presented, comprising a batch of methods to analyze the quality of entity tagging. The approach uses Taginfo as a reference base and analyses quality measures such as completeness, compliance, consistence, granularity, richness and trust . The framework has been used to analyze the quality of OpenStreetMap in Spain, comparing the main cities of Spain. Also a comparison between Spain and some major European cities has been carried out. Additionally, a Web tool has been also developed in order to facilitate the same kind of analysis in any area of the world

Are crowdsourced datasets suitable for specialized routing services? Case study of Openstreetmap for routing of people with limited mobility

Nowadays, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has increasingly gained attractiveness to both amateur users and professionals. Using data generated from the crowd has become a hot topic for several application domains including transportation. However, there are concerns regarding the quality of such datasets. As one of the most famous crowdsourced mapping platforms, we analyze the fitness for use of OpenStreetMap (OSM) database for routing and navigation of people with limited mobility. We assess the completeness of OSM data regarding sidewalk information. Relevant attributes for sidewalk information such as sidewalk width, incline, surface texture, etc. are considered, and through both extrinsic and intrinsic quality analysis methods, we present the results of fitness for use of OSM data for routing services of disabled persons. Based on empirical results, it is concluded that OSM data of relatively large spatial extents inside all studied cities could be an acceptable region of interest to test and evaluate wheelchair routing and navigation services, as long as other data quality parameters such as positional accuracy and logical consistency are checked and proved to be acceptable. We present an extended version of OSMatrix web service and explore how it is employed to perform spatial and temporal analysis of sidewalk data completeness in OSM. The tool is beneficial for piloting activities, whereas the pilot site planners can query OpenStreetMap and visualize the degree of sidewalk data availability in a certain region of interest. This would allow identifying the areas that data are mostly missing and plan for data collection events. Furthermore, empirical results of data completeness for several OSM data indicators and their potential relation to sidewalk data completeness are presented and discussed. Finally, the article ends with an outlook for future research study in this area

Bridging the Gap Between Traditional Metadata and the Requirements of an Academic SDI for Interdisciplinary Research

Metadata has long been understood as a fundamental component of any Spatial Data Infrastructure, providing information relating to discovery, evaluation and use of datasets and describing their quality. Having good metadata about a dataset is fundamental to using it correctly and to understanding the implications of issues such as missing data or incorrect attribution on the results obtained for any analysis carried out. Traditionally, spatial data was created by expert users (e.g. national mapping agencies), who created metadata for the data. Increasingly, however, data used in spatial analysis comes from multiple sources and could be captured or used by nonexpert users – for example academic researchers ‐ many of whom are from non‐GIS disciplinary backgrounds, not familiar with metadata and perhaps working in geographically dispersed teams. This paper examines the applicability of metadata in this academic context, using a multi‐national coastal/environmental project as a case study. The work to date highlights a number of suggestions for good practice, issues and research questions relevant to Academic SDI, particularly given the increased levels of research data sharing and reuse required by UK and EU funders

A Survey of Volunteered Open Geo-Knowledge Bases in the Semantic Web

Over the past decade, rapid advances in web technologies, coupled with innovative models of spatial data collection and consumption, have generated a robust growth in geo-referenced information, resulting in spatial information overload. Increasing 'geographic intelligence' in traditional text-based information retrieval has become a prominent approach to respond to this issue and to fulfill users' spatial information needs. Numerous efforts in the Semantic Geospatial Web, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), and the Linking Open Data initiative have converged in a constellation of open knowledge bases, freely available online. In this article, we survey these open knowledge bases, focusing on their geospatial dimension. Particular attention is devoted to the crucial issue of the quality of geo-knowledge bases, as well as of crowdsourced data. A new knowledge base, the OpenStreetMap Semantic Network, is outlined as our contribution to this area. Research directions in information integration and Geographic Information Retrieval (GIR) are then reviewed, with a critical discussion of their current limitations and future prospects