Volunteered Geographic Information, Citizen Science and Machine Learning in the Service of Sustainable Development Goals and the Sendai Framework

This paper focuses on two prominent efforts tackling global problems, namely the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework (SF). To achieve the aims sought by these initiatives or to observe and measure their effectiveness and progress, accurate and up-to-date information is needed. An important part of this information refers to geographic information (GI). GI is the fundamental underpinning element that spans the globe, captures time, and functions as the common denominator of many variables and data from other domains. Herein, several enabling factors related to GI are highlighted, and their intertwining impact is examined relative to the aims of SDGs and SF. These factors are Earth observation (EO) imagery enhanced with the advances in machine learning (ML), citizen science (CS), and volunteered geographic information (VGI). The synergy of these factors can be used to bring, on the one hand, the high-level policies and discourse from a theoretical level down to more practical implementations, and on the other hand, enable individual and localized efforts to scale up easily in both developed and developing countries and produce the desired results

Quality analysis of the Parisian OSM toponyms evolution

International audienceThe paper presents empirical research on the quality of the toponyms that can be retrieved from OpenStreetMap (OSM) under the purpose of enriching authoritative toponymic databases and gazetteers. An analysis on the volatility of places and points-of-interest (POIs) is presented. We examine how named features behave and change in terms of type, name and location. The challenge is to understand the behavior and consequently the fitness-for-purpose of OSM data when it comes to a possible use and integration with authoritative datasets. We show that, depending on the OSM feature type, the volatility can vary considerably and we elucidate which feature types are consistent, and thus could be used in authoritative gazetteers despite their grassroots nature and if there are spatial patterns behind the location changes of features during their lifespan

A Guidance Tool for VGI Contributors

Many people are familiar with the VGI project OpenStreetMap (OSM), but there are many other projects that are not as well known to volunteers. What is needed is a tool that can help volunteers match their motivations, interests and background to appropriate types of VGI projects

The nature of volunterreed geographic information

This contribution starts from the assumption that volunteered geographic information is a technological, cultural and scientific innovation. It therefore offers first some general background on the context that has fuelled the development of VGI and the lively scientific debates that have accompanied its success. The paper then focuses on the nature of this data by describing the main elements of VGI: the geographical reference (coordinates, geotag, etc.), the contents (texts, images, etc.) and the producers’ profiles. The opportunities and the criticalities offered by this data are described with examples drawn from recent literature and applications to highlight both the research challenges and the current state of the subject. The chapter aims to provide a guide to and a reference picture of this rapidly evolving subject

VGI Quality

The poster summarizes the research works on Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) quality undertaken within the EU COST Actions TD1202 "Mapping and the Citizen Sensor" and IC1203 "European Network Exploring Research into Geospatial Information Crowdsourcing: software and methodologies for harnessing geographic information from the crowd (ENERGIC)"

Investigating the feasibility of geo-tagged photographs as sources of land cover input data

Geo-tagged photographs are used increasingly as a source of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), which could potentially be used for land use and land cover applications. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the feasibility of using this source of spatial information for three use cases related to land cover: Calibration, validation and verification. We first provide an inventory of the metadata that are collected with geo-tagged photographs and then consider what elements would be essential, desirable, or unnecessary for the aforementioned use cases. Geo-tagged photographs were then extracted from Flickr, Panoramio and Geograph for an area of London, UK, and classified based on their usefulness for land cover mapping including an analysis of the accompanying metadata. Finally, we discuss protocols for geo-tagged photographs for use of VGI in relation to land cover applications

Mapping and the Citizen Sensor

The role of citizens in mapping has evolved considerably over the last decade. This chapter outlines the background to citizen sensing in mapping and sets the scene for the chapters that follow, which highlight some of the main outcomes of a collaborative programme of work to enhance the role of citizens in mapping

A Conceptual Model for Participants and Activities in Citizen Science Projects

24 pages, 4 figures, 3 tablesInterest in the formal representation of citizen science comes from portals, platforms, and catalogues of citizen science projects; scientists using citizen science data for their research; and funding agencies and governments interested in the impact of citizen science initiatives. Having a common understanding and representation of citizen science projects, their participants, and their outcomes is key to enabling seamless knowledge and data sharing. In this chapter, we provide a conceptual model comprised of the core citizen science concepts with which projects and data can be described in a standardised manner, focusing on the description of the participants and their activities. The conceptual model is the outcome of a working group from the COST Action CA15212 Citizen Science to Promote Creativity, Scientific Literacy, and Innovation throughout Europe, established to improve data standardisation and interoperability in citizen science activities. It utilises past models and contributes to current standardisation efforts, such as the Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR) Common Conceptual Model and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. Its design is intended to fulfil the needs of different stakeholders, as illustrated by several case studies which demonstrate the model’s applicabilityPeer reviewe

VGI and beyond.From data to mapping

This chapter will introduce the concept of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) within the practices of mapping and cartography. Our aim is to provide an accessible overview of the area, which has grown rapidly since the mid 2000s; but first we need to define what we mean by VG