Volunteered Geographic Information: a 10-year bibliometric investigation

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has become more evident at the same time as open-source platforms become worldwide popular, both resulting from people easily accessing geographic information on their smartphones. Aiming to investigate the main aspects of this research field, a bibliometric investigation was developed focusing on 10-year period (2011-2020). The analyses were performed based on Scopus database, VOS Viewer and Bibliometrix softwares, approaching: publications over years, document types, subject areas, core sources, main papers, countries, authors and most recurrent keywords. The initial results indicated that: publications have increased at an annual rate of 21.69%, the most published document type was article and only 16 journals were responsible for 33.33% of those 1200 articles published. USA, Germany and UK are major countries researching VGI and the last two are also host countries of the main authors. Although the term VGI has been defined among Citizen Science, the network of keywords occurrence showed that GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is an outstanding study field. However, the network visualization based on average publication per year revealed Citizen Science as a research field still moving forward. Keywords such as OpenStreetMap, data quality, accuracy assessment, social media and crowdsourcing showed to be more widespread among the field, the opposite occurs with applications in urban areas, land use and ecosystem services. Overall, the bibliometric indicators have revealed to be effective in order to access VGI as a research topic and indicated a promising trend in themes involving social media, remote sensing, urban area, crowdsourcing and PPGIS.A Informação Geográfica Voluntária (VGI) tornou-se mais evidente ao mesmo tempo em que as plataformas de código aberto se tornaram populares em todo o mundo, ambas resultantes do fácil acesso das pessoas às informações geográficas em seus smartphones. Com o objetivo de investigar os principais aspectos deste campo de pesquisa, foi desenvolvida uma investigação bibliométrica com foco num período de 10 anos (2011-2020).  A análise foi realizada com base no banco de dados Scopus e nos softwares VOS Viewer e Bibliometrix, abordando: publicações ao longo dos anos, tipos de documentos, campos de estudo, principais periódicos, principais artigos, países, autores e palavras-chave mais recorrentes. Os resultados iniciais indicaram que: as publicações aumentaram a uma taxa anual de 21.69%, o tipo de documento mais publicado foi artigo e apenas 16 periódicos foram responsáveis por 33.33% dos 1200 artigos publicados. EUA, Alemanha e Reino Unido são os principais países que pesquisam VGI e os dois últimos também são países-sede dos principais autores. Apesar do termo VGI ter sido definido em meio a Ciência Cidadã, a rede de ocorrência de palavras-chave mostrou que SIG (Sistema de Informação Geográfica) é um campo de estudo de destaque. Contudo, a rede de visualização com base em média de publicações por ano revelou a Ciência Cidadã como um campo de pesquisa ainda em avanço. Palavras-chave como OpenStreetMap, qualidade dos dados, avaliação da precisão, mídias sociais e coletividade mostraram-se mais difundidas no campo, o oposto ocorre com aplicações em áreas urbanas, uso do solo e serviços ecossistêmicos. No geral, os indicadores bibliométricos revelaram-se eficazes para acessar a VGI como tópico de pesquisa e indicaram uma tendência promissora em temas envolvendo redes sociais, sensoriamento remoto, área urbana, colaboração coletiva e PPGIS

Visualising where commuting cyclists travel using crowdsourced data

Encouraging more cycling is increasingly seen as an important way to create more sustainable cities and to improve public health. Understanding how cyclists travel and how to encourage cycling requires data; something which has traditionally been lacking. New sources of data are emerging which promise to reveal new insights. In this paper, we use data from the activity tracking app Strava to examine where people in Glasgow cycle and how new forms of data could be utilised to better understand cycling patterns. We propose a method for augmenting the data by comparing the observed link flows to the link flows which would have resulted if people took the shortest route. Comparing these flows gives some expected results, for example, that people like to cycle along the river, as well as some unexpected results, for example, that some routes with cycling infrastructure are avoided by cyclists. This study proposes a practical approach that planners can use for cycling plans with new/emerging cycling data

Predicting cycling volumes using crowdsourced activity data

Planning for cycling is often made difficult by the lack of detailed information about when and where cycling takes place. Many have seen the arrival of new forms of data such as crowdsourced data as a potential saviour. One of the key challenges posed by these data forms is understanding how representative they are of the population. To address this challenge, a limited number of studies have compared crowdsourced cycling data to ground truth counts. In general, they have found a high correlation over the long run but with limited geographic coverage, and with counters placed on routes already known to be popular with cyclists. Little is known about the relationship between cyclists present in crowdsourced data and cyclists in manual counts over shorter periods of time and on non-arterial routes. We fill this gap by comparing multi-year crowdsourced data to manual cyclist counts from a cordon count in Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow. Using regression techniques, we estimate models that can be used to adjust the crowdsourced data to predict total cycling volumes. We find that the order of magnitude can be predicted but that the predictions lack the precision that may be required for some applications

Approaching location-based services from a place-based perspective: from data to services?

Despite the seemingly obvious importance of a link between notions of place and the provision of context in location-based services (LBS), truly place-based LBS remain rare. Place is attractive as a concept for designing services as it focuses on ways in which people, rather than machines, represent and talk about places. We review papers which have extracted place-relevant information from a variety of sources, examining their rationales, the data sources used, the characteristics of the data under study and the ways in which place is represented. Although the data sources used are subject to a wide range of biases, we find that existing methods and data sources are capable of extracting a wide range of place-related information. We suggest categories of LBS which could profit from such information, for example, by using place-related natural language (e.g. vernacular placenames) in tracking and routing services and moving the focus from geometry to place semantics in location-based retrieval. A key future challenge will be to integrate data derived from multiple sources if we are to advance from individual case studies focusing on a single aspect of place to services which can deal with multiple aspects of place

Poslovna inteligencija i otvoreni podaci: Mogućnosti za izvođenje vrednih informacija u oblasti turizma

This paper aims to introduce the concept of data analysis which could easily be implemented by anybody involved in the subject matter with basic IT knowledge and skills. The paper is divided into two parts, the first of which presents an overview of related research from two points of view: (1) publications which refer to the analysis, or the overall use of open data from the tourism domain and (2) publications which use business intelligence tools to analyse tourism data. Results indicate that there is a significant number of publications but none of them combines the two issues in the field of tourism (open data and business intelligence). The second part refers to the possibilities of using Power BI, the business intelligence tool for analysing available open data about tourism in Serbia.Publishe

Exploring cyclists’ and pedestrians’ personal exposure, wellbeing and protective practices on-the-move

In dieser Doktorarbeit wurde untersucht, welche Faktoren Wohlbefinden, wahrgenommene Gesundheit und Mobilitätspraktiken von Radfahrenden und Fußgänger:innen während des Unterwegsseins beeinflussen. Ziel war es, die persönliche Exposition gegenüber Feinstaub und Lärm unterwegs zu messen und diese der individuell wahrgenommenen Belastung gegenüberzustellen. Zudem wurden weitere Faktoren, die das Wohlbefinden beeinflussen, untersucht. Die Arbeit beleuchtet überdies, wie über gesunde und angenehme Mobilität informiert werden könnte. Zuerst wurden mobile qualitative Interviews (Go-/Ride-Alongs) durchgeführt und mit tragbaren Sensoren zur Messung von Feinstaub und Lärm ergänzt. Der situative Kontext, die sensorische Wahrnehmung und soziale Aspekte beeinflussen, ob das Unterwegsseins in der Stadt als gesund und angenehm empfunden wird. Diese Faktoren können in vergleichsweise als hoch belastend gemessenen Situationen ausgleichend wirken. Weiterhin wurden Informationsmöglichkeiten für eine gesunde Mobilität in der Stadt exploriert. Ein Literaturreview hat aufgezeigt, dass Gesundheitsthemen wenig Berücksichtigung in Forschung zu Mobilitäts-Apps finden. Daran anschließend wurden Fokusgruppen durchgeführt. Es wurde ermittelt, wie gesunde und angenehme Routen kommuniziert werden können. Hier könnendas Vorhandensein von Routenalternativen und Bewältigungsstrategien ein Gefühl von Selbstwirksamkeit geben. Es wurde eine „pleasant routing app“ vorgeschlagen, die angenehme und gesunde Routenaspekte integriert. Um die Attraktivität des Fahrradfahrens und zu Fuß Gehens zu steigern, sollten Erfahrungen, Wahrnehmungen und Praktiken von Radfahrenden und Fußgänger:innen berücksichtigt werden. Letztendlich kann somit aktive Mobilität ihr Potenzial entfalten und zu einer lebenswerten, gesunden und umweltfreundlichen Stadt beitragen.This thesis investigates factors influencing cyclists’ and pedestrians’ health and wellbeing on-the-move. Moreover, the possibilities of smartphone apps for supporting a healthy and pleasant trip are investigated. The scope of this thesis is to combine the topic healthy and pleasant mobility with possibilities of mobility apps. First, the thesis explores how cyclists and pedestrians perceive their personal exposure towards air pollution and noise as well as other factors influencing commuting experience and wellbeing on-the-move. This is contrasted to actual measured particulate matter and noise. Qualitative interviews on-the-move (‘go-/ride-alongs’) are complemented by wearable sensors measuring particulate matter and noise. The results show discrepancies as well as coherences between perceived and measured exposure. The situational context, sensory awareness (e.g. water views) and social cues (e.g. seeing other people) are important for a perceived pleasant commute, even in polluted areas. Second, this thesis identifies how far health impacting factors are considered in research using mobility apps to identify their possibilities for supporting a healthy commute. A literature review reveals that research applying mobility apps is lacking the consideration of health topics and it is proposed to integrate health topics in mobility app development. Following these findings, the thesis investigates communication options to inform about a healthy and pleasant commute. Focus groups were applied showing that information should include feasible coping strategies and increase self-efficacy. Pleasant trip characteristics could be included in a healthy mobility app. If active mode users’ experiences, perceptions and practices are considered, cycling and walking can become more attractive and more people are encouraged to cycle or walk. Hence, active modes can unfold their potential for supporting the transformation towards liveable, healthy and environmentally friendly cities

Towards Sustainable Transport and Mobility

Small island states are one of the most affected areas by sea-level rise, and sustainable transport development is crucial to their transition towards resiliency. However, their special spatial situations, insularity, geographic remoteness, small populations, and small economies resulted in high transport costs and car dependencies. The book moves away from the conventional focus on urban areas in the Global North and tourism. It gives a different perspective on sustainable transport, travelling, and commuting in the Caribbean and Europe. The authors provide research-based insights and show the state-of-the-art and future approaches for policy-makers, academics, and practitioners. Even beyond small island state research, the book offers an innovative outlook

A computational model of pedestrian road safety: the long way round is the safe way home

We propose a novel linear model of pedestrian safety in urban areas with respect to road traffic crashes that considers a single independent variable of pedestrian path safety. This variable is estimated for a given urban area by sampling pedestrian paths from the population of such paths in that area and in turn estimating the mean safety of these paths. We argue that this independent variable directly models the factors contributing to pedestrian safety. This contrasts previous approaches, which, by considering multiple independent variables describing the environment, traffic and pedestrians themselves, indirectly model these factors. Using data about 15 UK cities, we demonstrate that the proposed model accurately estimates numbers of pedestrian casualties

Mapping and the Citizen Sensor

Maps are a fundamental resource in a diverse array of applications ranging from everyday activities, such as route planning through the legal demarcation of space to scientific studies, such as those seeking to understand biodiversity and inform the design of nature reserves for species conservation. For a map to have value, it should provide an accurate and timely representation of the phenomenon depicted and this can be a challenge in a dynamic world. Fortunately, mapping activities have benefitted greatly from recent advances in geoinformation technologies. Satellite remote sensing, for example, now offers unparalleled data acquisition and authoritative mapping agencies have developed systems for the routine production of maps in accordance with strict standards. Until recently, much mapping activity was in the exclusive realm of authoritative agencies but technological development has also allowed the rise of the amateur mapping community. The proliferation of inexpensive and highly mobile and location aware devices together with Web 2.0 technology have fostered the emergence of the citizen as a source of data. Mapping presently benefits from vast amounts of spatial data as well as people able to provide observations of geographic phenomena, which can inform map production, revision and evaluation. The great potential of these developments is, however, often limited by concerns. The latter span issues from the nature of the citizens through the way data are collected and shared to the quality and trustworthiness of the data. This book reports on some of the key issues connected with the use of citizen sensors in mapping. It arises from a European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) Action, which explored issues linked to topics ranging from citizen motivation, data acquisition, data quality and the use of citizen derived data in the production of maps that rival, and sometimes surpass, maps arising from authoritative agencies