Crowdsourced validation and updating of dynamic features in OpenStreetMap an analysis of shelter mapping after the 2015 Nepal earthquake

The paper presents results from a validation process of OpenStreetMap (OSM) rapid mapping activities using crowdsourcing technology in the aftermath of the Gorkha earthquake 2015 in Nepal. We present a framework and tool to iteratively validate and update OSM objects. Two main objectives are addressed: first, analyzing the accuracy of the volunteered geographic information (VGI) generated by the OSM community; second, investigating the spatio-temporal dynamics of spontaneous shelter camps in Kathmandu. Results from three independent validation iterations show that only 10 % of the OSM objects are false positives (no shelter camps). Unexpectedly, previous mapping experience only had a minor influence on mapping accuracy. The results further show that it is critical to monitor the temporal dynamics. Out of 4,893 identified shelter camps, 54% were already empty/closed six days after the first mapping. So far, updating geographical features during humanitarian crisis is not properly addressed by the existing crowdsourcing approaches

Identifying success factors in crowdsourced geographic information use in government

Crowdsourcing geographic information in government is focusing on projects that are engaging people who are not government officials and employees in collecting, editing and sharing information with governmental bodies. This type of projects emerged in the past decade, due to technological and societal changes - such as the increased use of smartphones, combined with growing levels of education and technical abilities to use them by citizens. They also flourished due to the need for updated data in relatively quick time when financial resources are low. They range from recording the experience of feeling an earthquake to recording the location of businesses during the summer time. 50 cases of projects in which crowdsourced geographic information was used by governmental bodies across the world are analysed. About 60% of the cases were examined in 2014 and in 2017, to allow for comparison and identification of success and failure. The analysis looked at different aspects and their relationship to success: the drivers to start a project; scope and aims; stakeholders and relationships; inputs into the project; technical and organisational aspect; and problems encountered. The main key factors of the case studies were analysed with the use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) which is an analytical method that combines quantitative and qualitative tools in sociological research. From the analysis, we can conclude that there is no “magic bullet” or a perfect methodology for a successful crowdsourcing in government project. Unless the organisation has reached maturity in the area of crowdsourcing, identifying a champion and starting a project that will not address authoritative datasets directly is a good way to ensure early success and start the process of organisational learning on how to run such projects. Governmental support and trust is undisputed. If the choice is to use new technologies, this should be accompanied by an investment of appropriate resources within the organisation to ensure that the investment bear fruits. Alternatively, using an existing technology that was successful elsewhere and investing in training and capacity building is another path for success. We also identified the importance of intermediary Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with the experience and knowledge in working with crowdsourcing within a partnership. These organizations have the knowledge and skills to implement projects at the boundary between government and the crowd, and therefore can offer the experience to ensure better implementation. Changes and improvement of public services, or a focus on environmental monitoring can be a good basis for a project. Capturing base mapping is a good point to start, too. The recommendation of the report address organisational issues, resources, and legal aspects

The tasks of the crowd : a typology of tasks in geographic information crowdsourcing and a case study in humanitarian mapping

In the past few years, volunteers have produced geographic information of different kinds, using a variety of different crowdsourcing platforms, within a broad range of contexts. However, there is still a lack of clarity about the specific types of tasks that volunteers can perform for deriving geographic information from remotely sensed imagery, and how the quality of the produced information can be assessed for particular task types. To fill this gap, we analyse the existing literature and propose a typology of tasks in geographic information crowdsourcing, which distinguishes between classification, digitisation and conflation tasks. We then present a case study related to the “Missing Maps” project aimed at crowdsourced classification to support humanitarian aid. We use our typology to distinguish between the different types of crowdsourced tasks in the project and choose classification tasks related to identifying roads and settlements for an evaluation of the crowdsourced classification. This evaluation shows that the volunteers achieved a satisfactory overall performance (accuracy: 89%; sensitivity: 73%; and precision: 89%). We also analyse different factors that could influence the performance, concluding that volunteers were more likely to incorrectly classify tasks with small objects. Furthermore, agreement among volunteers was shown to be a very good predictor of the reliability of crowdsourced classification: tasks with the highest agreement level were 41 times more probable to be correctly classified by volunteers. The results thus show that the crowdsourced classification of remotely sensed imagery is able to generate geographic information about human settlements with a high level of quality. This study also makes clear the different sophistication levels of tasks that can be performed by volunteers and reveals some factors that may have an impact on their performance

Integrated Participatory and Collaborative Risk Mapping for Enhancing Disaster Resilience

Critical knowledge gaps seriously hinder efforts for building disaster resilience at all levels, especially in disaster-prone least developed countries. Information deficiency is most serious at local levels, especially in terms of spatial information on risk, resources, and capacities of communities. To tackle this challenge, we develop a general methodological approach that integrates community-based participatory mapping processes, one that has been widely used by governments and non-government organizations in the fields of natural resources management, disaster risk reduction and rural development, with emerging collaborative digital mapping techniques. We demonstrate the value and potential of this integrated participatory and collaborative mapping approach by conducting a pilot study in the flood-prone lower Karnali river basin in Western Nepal. The process engaged a wide range of stakeholders and non-stakeholder citizens to co-produce locally relevant geographic information on resources, capacities, and flood risks of selected communities. The new digital community maps are richer in content, more accurate, and easier to update and share than those produced by conventional Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments (VCAs), a variant of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), that is widely used by various government and non-government organizations. We discuss how this integrated mapping approach may provide an effective link between coordinating and implementing local disaster risk reduction and resilience building interventions to designing and informing regional development plans, as well as its limitations in terms of technological barrier, map ownership, and empowerment potential

Understanding MapSwipe: Analysing Data Quality of Crowdsourced Classifications on Human Settlements

Geodata is missing to populate maps for usage of local communities. Efforts for filling gaps (automatically) by deriving data on human settlements using aerial or satellite imagery is of current concern (Esch et al., 2013; Pesaresi et al., 2013; Voigt et al., 2007). Among semi-automated methods and pre-processed data products, crowdsourcing is another tool which can help to collect information on human settlements and complement existing data, yet it’s accuracy is debated (Goodchild and Li, 2012; Haklay, 2010; Senaratne et al., 2016). Here the quality of data produced by volunteers using the MapSwipe app was investigated. Three different intrinsic parameters of crowdsourced data and their impact on data quality were examined: agreement, user characteristics and spatial characteristics. Additionally, a novel mechanism based on machine learning techniques was presented to aggregate data provided from multiple users. The results have shown that a random forest based aggregation of crowdsourced classifications from MapSwipe can produce high quality data in comparison to state-of-the-art products derived from satellite imagery. High agreement serves as an indicator for correct classifications. Intrinsic user characteristics can be utilized to identify consistently incorrect classifications. Classifications that are spatial outliers show a higher error rate. The findings pronounce that the integration of machine learning techniques into existing crowdsourcing workflows can become a key point for the future development of crowdsourcing applications

Enhancing Geospatial Preparedness for Disaster Management through the work of development organisations

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Information Management, specialization in Geographic Information SystemsDepending on the complexity of a disaster and the local capacities, international organizations and multidisciplinary response teams might be involved in the response. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used for coordination and information sharing. However, geospatial preparedness is necessary: reliable up to date geodata, tools, and people with the knowledge to use those tools. In least-developed countries the lack of geospatial preparedness, particularly geospatial pre-disaster information, hinders disaster response. In those places, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs creates a framework for cooperation with the Coordinated Data Scramble Initiative where Information Management Officers (IMOs) from different organisations are supported by volunteers and technical communities to provide ad-hoc datasets and infrastructure to use GIS. Nevertheless, long-term solutions are needed. Before the disaster, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) might already be using GIS to implement development projects. Based on the theoretical concept of disaster management and development as a learning circle, this investigation proposes the engagement of development NGOS working in disaster-prone areas to enhance geospatial preparedness. The research was based on a multi-method approach including the study of the body of literature, authoritative reports, and repositories and databases, monitorization of the tools used during responses to real emergencies, and semi-structured interviews to IMOs. Finally, the study concluded with an online survey with a worldwide sample of more than 200 development NGOs. The result show that disaster response requires reliable and up to date geodata which is not always the case. Humanitarian missions often rely on OpenStreetMap as a source of information to overcome this limitation. Therefore, improving OpenStreetMap would improve geospatial preparedness. Many development NGOs use digital geographic information, mostly open-data. They could indeed improve geospatial preparedness allowing community empowerment while conveying relevant pre-disaster datasets to the humanitarian missions. This bottom-up approach would allow for the inclusion of information relevant to the community in the disaster response decision-making process. There is, however, a limitation; most of these development NGOs are not familiar with the platform used by the humanitarian community (i.e., OpenStreetMap). Therefore, the sustainability of this synergic approach requires further harmonization between development and humanitarian organizations working for the wellbeing of the same communitie

Geospatial crowdsourced data fitness analysis for spatial data infrastructure based disaster management actions

The reporting of disasters has changed from official media reports to citizen reporters who are at the disaster scene. This kind of crowd based reporting, related to disasters or any other events, is often identified as 'Crowdsourced Data' (CSD). CSD are freely and widely available thanks to the current technological advancements. The quality of CSD is often problematic as it is often created by the citizens of varying skills and backgrounds. CSD is considered unstructured in general, and its quality remains poorly defined. Moreover, the CSD's location availability and the quality of any available locations may be incomplete. The traditional data quality assessment methods and parameters are also often incompatible with the unstructured nature of CSD due to its undocumented nature and missing metadata. Although other research has identified credibility and relevance as possible CSD quality assessment indicators, the available assessment methods for these indicators are still immature. In the 2011 Australian floods, the citizens and disaster management administrators used the Ushahidi Crowd-mapping platform and the Twitter social media platform to extensively communicate flood related information including hazards, evacuations, help services, road closures and property damage. This research designed a CSD quality assessment framework and tested the quality of the 2011 Australian floods' Ushahidi Crowdmap and Twitter data. In particular, it explored a number of aspects namely, location availability and location quality assessment, semantic extraction of hidden location toponyms and the analysis of the credibility and relevance of reports. This research was conducted based on a Design Science (DS) research method which is often utilised in Information Science (IS) based research. Location availability of the Ushahidi Crowdmap and the Twitter data assessed the quality of available locations by comparing three different datasets i.e. Google Maps, OpenStreetMap (OSM) and Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines' (QDNRM) road data. Missing locations were semantically extracted using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and gazetteer lookup techniques. The Credibility of Ushahidi Crowdmap dataset was assessed using a naive Bayesian Network (BN) model commonly utilised in spam email detection. CSD relevance was assessed by adapting Geographic Information Retrieval (GIR) relevance assessment techniques which are also utilised in the IT sector. Thematic and geographic relevance were assessed using Term Frequency – Inverse Document Frequency Vector Space Model (TF-IDF VSM) and NLP based on semantic gazetteers. Results of the CSD location comparison showed that the combined use of non-authoritative and authoritative data improved location determination. The semantic location analysis results indicated some improvements of the location availability of the tweets and Crowdmap data; however, the quality of new locations was still uncertain. The results of the credibility analysis revealed that the spam email detection approaches are feasible for CSD credibility detection. However, it was critical to train the model in a controlled environment using structured training including modified training samples. The use of GIR techniques for CSD relevance analysis provided promising results. A separate relevance ranked list of the same CSD data was prepared through manual analysis. The results revealed that the two lists generally agreed which indicated the system's potential to analyse relevance in a similar way to humans. This research showed that the CSD fitness analysis can potentially improve the accuracy, reliability and currency of CSD and may be utilised to fill information gaps available in authoritative sources. The integrated and autonomous CSD qualification framework presented provides a guide for flood disaster first responders and could be adapted to support other forms of emergencies

Analysing Volunteer Engagement in Humanitarian Crowdmapping

Organisers of large crowdsourcing initiatives need to consider how to produce outcomes, but also how to build volunteer capacity. Central concerns include the impact of the first-time contributor experience, and the interplay of different modes of participation in larger organisations that host multiple strands of activity. How can volunteer capacity be built proactively, so that trained volunteers are available when needed? How important are opportunities for social encounter, either online or in person? We present four empirical studies of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), a novel setting where thousands of volunteers produce maps to support humanitarian aid. Its diversity of settings and activities provides an opportunity to observe the effects of different coordination practices within a single organisation. Participation is online and open to all, however volunteers need to learn specialist tools and workflows. To support newcomers, HOT organises offline events to learn the practice under expert guidance. Our research is motivated by a dual aim: first, to produce empirical evaluations of novel practices, informed by existing community concerns. Second, to revisit existing theories in social and behavioural science through the lens of this novel setting. We use statistical methods to observe the activity and retention of HOT volunteers. The full HOT contribution history is our primary source of empirical evidence, covering multiple years of activity. We can demonstrate that coordination practices have a marked impact on contributor retention. Complex task designs can be a deterrent, while social contribution settings and peer feedback are associated with a significant increase in newcomer retention. We further find that event-centric campaigns can be significant recruiting and reactivation events, however that this is not guaranteed. Our analytical methods provide a means of interpreting key differences in outcomes. We relate our findings to comparable settings, and close with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications

Open Mapping towards Sustainable Development Goals

This collection amplifies the experiences of some of the world’s young people who are working to address SDGs using geospatial technologies and multi-national collaboration. Authors from every region of the world who have emerged as leaders in the YouthMappers movement share their perspectives and knowledge in an accessible and peer-friendly format. YouthMappers are university students who create and use open mapping for development and humanitarian purposes. Their work leverages digital innovations - both geospatial platforms and communications technologies - to answer the call for leadership to address sustainability challenges. The book conveys a sense of robust knowledge emerging from formal studies or informal academic experiences - in the first-person voices of students and recent graduates who are at the forefront of creating a new map of the world. YouthMappers use OpenStreetMap as the foundational sharing mechanism for creating data together. Authors impart the way they are learning about themselves, about each other, about the world. They are developing technology skills, and simultaneously teaching the rest of the world about the potential contributions of a highly connected generation of emerging world leaders for the SDGs. The book is timely, in that it captures a pivotal moment in the trajectory of the YouthMappers movement’s ability to share emerging expertise, and one that coincides with a pivotal moment in the geopolitical history of planet earth whose inhabitants need to hear from them. Most volumes that cover the topic of sustainability in terms of youth development are written by non-youth authors. Moreover, most are written by non-majoritarian, entrenched academic scholars. This book instead puts forward the diverse voices of students and recent graduates in countries where YouthMappers works, all over the world. Authors cover topics that range from water, agriculture, food, to waste, education, gender, climate action and disasters from their own eyes in working with data, mapping, and humanitarian action, often working across national boundaries and across continents. To inspire readers with their insights, the chapters are mapped to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ways that connect a youth agenda to a global agenda. With a preface written by Carrie Stokes, Chief Geographer and GeoCenter Director, United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This is an open access book

Open Mapping towards Sustainable Development Goals

This collection amplifies the experiences of some of the world’s young people who are working to address SDGs using geospatial technologies and multi-national collaboration. Authors from every region of the world who have emerged as leaders in the YouthMappers movement share their perspectives and knowledge in an accessible and peer-friendly format. YouthMappers are university students who create and use open mapping for development and humanitarian purposes. Their work leverages digital innovations - both geospatial platforms and communications technologies - to answer the call for leadership to address sustainability challenges. The book conveys a sense of robust knowledge emerging from formal studies or informal academic experiences - in the first-person voices of students and recent graduates who are at the forefront of creating a new map of the world. YouthMappers use OpenStreetMap as the foundational sharing mechanism for creating data together. Authors impart the way they are learning about themselves, about each other, about the world. They are developing technology skills, and simultaneously teaching the rest of the world about the potential contributions of a highly connected generation of emerging world leaders for the SDGs. The book is timely, in that it captures a pivotal moment in the trajectory of the YouthMappers movement’s ability to share emerging expertise, and one that coincides with a pivotal moment in the geopolitical history of planet earth whose inhabitants need to hear from them. Most volumes that cover the topic of sustainability in terms of youth development are written by non-youth authors. Moreover, most are written by non-majoritarian, entrenched academic scholars. This book instead puts forward the diverse voices of students and recent graduates in countries where YouthMappers works, all over the world. Authors cover topics that range from water, agriculture, food, to waste, education, gender, climate action and disasters from their own eyes in working with data, mapping, and humanitarian action, often working across national boundaries and across continents. To inspire readers with their insights, the chapters are mapped to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ways that connect a youth agenda to a global agenda. With a preface written by Carrie Stokes, Chief Geographer and GeoCenter Director, United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This is an open access book