Web–based Participatory GIS with data collection on the field – A prototype architecture

The rise of Web 2.0 and the current, unprecedented diffusion of mobile devices have laid new foundations for the development of PGIS (Participatory GIS). This study evaluates the possibility of exploiting FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) tools to build up a PGIS prototype providing Web publication of user field-collected data. Besides increasing public awareness and collaboration, user-generated content should also enlarge the knowledge of specific phenomena up to the local level. A prototype architecture was designed and tested in relation to a simple, planning-related case study, i.e., the report of road pavement damages. Open Data Kit suite was used to gather georeferenced multimedia data using mobile device sensors (e.g., the GPS) and to store them into a PostgreSQL database with PostGIS spatial extension. Data was then Web-published using GeoServer. Web access was finally enabled from both traditional desktop-computers and mobile platforms through ad hoc OpenLayers and Leaflet clientside solutions. The architecture provided support for FOSS applicability within the typical PGIS-related tasks, from field survey to data storage, management and dissemination on the Internet. This bottom-up communication paradigm, which exploits real-time, freely available user contributions, can become a potentially precious tool for making decision-processes more democratic, faster and ultimately better

A European Approach to the Establishment of Data Spaces

Within a context defined by the rapid increase in the availability of data, combined with the complexity of data sources, infrastructures, technologies and actors involved in data sharing flows, the European Union (EU) is devising approaches that can reap the benefits of data-driven innovation. The policy vision defined in the European strategy for data [1] back in 2020 aims to make the EU a leader in today’s data-driven society through an improved use of data across actors and sectors with the ultimate goal of making better decisions in business and the public sector. This is to be achieved in practice by using a set of interdependent legal instruments (see Figure 1), most notably the following: (i) the Data Governance Act [2], creating processes and structures to facilitate voluntary data sharing by companies, individuals and the public sector; (ii) the Data Act [3], establishing rules and conditions for a fairer access to and reuse of data from industry, including Internet of Things (IoT); and (iii) the upcoming Act on high-value datasets, complementing the Open Data Directive [4] with a list of technical requirements and datasets that public sector bodies are required to publish in machine-readable format, for free, and under open licenses. In addition, the European strategy for data foresees the establishment of a common European data space by combining sector-specific data spaces in domains such as agriculture, mobility, finance and environment. This data space will act as a European single market for data and create value by incentivising digital innovation at scale

Observations on an OpenStreetMap mapping party organised as a social event during an open source GIS conference

We discuss an OpenStreetMap (OSM) mapping party organised during the Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Europe 2015 conference held in Como, Italy in July 2015. While primarily the mapping party was organised as a conference social event, there was also the serious goal of collecting and adding geographic data to the OSM database of Como city. Our paper describes the organisation, planning and structure of the mapping party. Results show that considerable amounts of data was collected and uploaded to OSM. Overall there was very good interest in the mapping party with 40 participants. While the majority of participants were delegates at the conference and consequently could be considered highly skilled GIS practitioners only a very small number had actually contributed data to OSM in the past. We discuss the key lessons learned and overall positive and negative aspects of this mapping party

An automated GRASS-based procedure to assess the geometrical accuracy of the OpenStreetMap Paris road network

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is the largest spatial database of the world. One of the most frequently occurring geospatial elements within this database is the road network, whose quality is crucial for applications such as routing and navigation. Several methods have been proposed for the assessment of OSM road network quality, however they are often tightly coupled to the characteristics of the authoritative dataset involved in the comparison. This makes it hard to replicate and extend these methods. This study relies on an automated procedure which was recently developed for comparing OSM with any road network dataset. It is based on three Python modules for the open source GRASS GIS software and provides measures of OSM road network spatial accuracy and completeness. Provided that the user is familiar with the authoritative dataset used, he can adjust the values of the parameters involved thanks to the flexibility of the procedure. The method is applied to assess the quality of the Paris OSM road network dataset through a comparison against the French official dataset provided by the French National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (IGN). The results show that the Paris OSM road network has both a high completeness and spatial accuracy. It has a greater length than the IGN road network, and is found to be suitable for applications requiring spatial accuracies up to 5-6 m. Also, the results confirm the flexibility of the procedure for supporting users in carrying out their own comparisons between OSM and reference road datasets

A FOSS4G-based procedure to compare OpenStreetMap and authoritative road network datasets

OpenStreetMap (OSM), the most popular VGI crowdsourcing project, is an excellent example of an open-license spatial database. But what is the quality of OSM road network datasets compared to authoritative counterparts? Several comparisons of this kind are detailed in literature but these cannot be easily adapted to other scenarios. Developing a generic automated procedure is very challenging. This paper proposes a FOSS4G-based procedure for automated quality comparison of OSM and any authoritative road network datasets. We detail work-in-progress which has great potential. Our procedure is currently implemented into a GRASS command with future plans to extend this to a QGIS plugin and a FOSS4G-based WPS

Towards an Automated Comparison of OpenStreetMap with Authoritative Road Datasets

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an extraordinarily large and diverse spatial database of the world. Road networks are amongst the most frequently occurring spatial content within the OSM database. These road network representations are usable in many applications. However the quality of these representations can vary between locations. Comparing OSM road networks with authoritative road datasets for a given area or region is an important task in assessing OSM’s fitness for use for applications like routing and navigation. Such comparisons can be technically challenging and no software implementation exists which facilitates them easily and automatically. In this article we develop and propose a flexible methodology for comparing the geometry of OSM road network data with other road datasets. Quantitative measures for the completeness and spatial accuracy of OSM are computed, including the compatibility of OSM road data with other map databases. Our methodology provides users with significant flexibility in how they can adjust the parameterization to suit their needs. This software implementation is exclusively built on open source software and a significant degree of automation is provided for these comparisons. This software can subsequently be extended and adapted for comparison between OSM and other external road datasets

Geospatial openness: from software to standards & data

Abstract This paper is the editorial of the Special Issue "Open Source Geospatial Software", which features 10 published papers. The editorial introduces the concept of openness and, within the geospatial context, declines it into the three main components of software, data and standards. According to this classification, the papers published in the Special Issue are briefly summarized and a future research agenda in the open geospatial domain is finally outlined

Looking through the changes: an analysis of the buried watercourses of Como

Studying territorial evolutions and investigating their underlying processes is essential to ensure continuity in well-done land management decisions. The case of Como City can be considered as a perfect small-scale example of how human influence acted on natural environment. Several watercourses hidden under the road network of the city represent one of the meaningful consequences. FOSS4G and geospatial data from different epochs of Como City historical development allowed to trace the evolution of the territorial setting and the original position of the watercourses. We quantified the variations in their peak flood discharges as a consequence of watersheds urbanization. A Web viewer was created for an easy access to the outcomes of the study

Do open geodata actually have the quality they declare? the case study of Milan, Italy

In the past number of years there has been an amazing flourishing of spatial data products released with open licenses. Researchers and professionals are extensively exploiting open geodata for many applications, which, in turn, include decision-making results and other (derived) geospatial datasets among their outputs. Despite the traditional availability of metadata, a question arises about the actual quality of open geodata, as their declared quality is typically given for granted without any systematic assessment. The present work investigates the case study of Milan Municipality (Northern Italy). A wide set of open geodata are available for this area which are released by national, regional and local authoritative entities. A comprehensive cataloguing operation is first performed, with 1061 geospatial open datasets from Italian providers found which highly differ in terms of license, format, scale, content, and release date. Among the many quality parameters for geospatial data, the work focuses on positional accuracy. An example of positional accuracy assessment is described for an openly-licensed orthophoto through comparison with the official, up-to-date, and large-scale vector cartography of Milan. The comparison is run according to the guidelines provided by ISO and shows that the positional accuracy declared by the orthophoto provider does not correspond to the reality. Similar results are found from analyses on other datasets (not presented here). Implications are twofold: Raising the awareness on the risks of using open geodata by taking their quality for granted; and highlighting the need for open geodata providers to introduce or refine mechanisms for data quality control

Free and open source software for geospatial applications (FOSS4G) to support Future Earth

The development, integration, and distribution of the information and spatial data infrastructure (i.e. Digital Earth; DE) necessary to support the vision and goals of Future Earth (FE) will occur in a distributed fashion, in very diverse technological, institutional, socio-cultural, and economic contexts around the world. This complex context and ambitious goals require bringing to bear not only the best minds, but also the best science and technologies available. Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial Applications (FOSS4G) offers mature, capable and reliable software to contribute to the creation of this infrastructure. In this paper we point to a selected set of some of the most mature and reliable FOSS4G solutions that can be used to develop the functionality required as part of DE and FE. We provide examples of large-scale, sophisticated, mission-critical applications of each software to illustrate their power and capabilities in systems where they perform roles or functionality similar to the ones they could perform as part of DE and FE. We provide information and resources to assist the readers in carrying out their own assessments to select the best FOSS4G solutions for their particular contexts and system development needs