Citizen Science in the Age of Neogeography: Utilizing
Volunteered Geographic Information for Environmental Monitoring, this article
outlines an interesting concept involving the use of citizens volunteered GIS
data or research. Not to get technical with the rhetoric, the authors propose
that with the inclusion of public and private citizen volunteered data
collection and research of non-expertise driven GIS users has the potential for
leaps forward in GIS applications within many aspects of our lives.
A case study of OakMapper, a GIS style wed site is a hybrid,
uniting several characteristic types of VGI (volunteered geographic information)
and citizen science: targeted citizen-based observation networks, expert-driven
focused environmental monitoring, and opportunistic crowdsourcing efforts to
map a disease spreading throw the western part of the USA. This blended
approach to citizen-based environmental monitoring enhances data flow and taps
into exogenous data sources and they believe it is the future to large-scale environmental
challenges.
John Patrick Connors, Shufei Lei & Maggi Kelly (2012): Citizen Science in the Age of Neogeography:
ReplyDeleteUtilizing Volunteered Geographic Information for Environmental Monitoring, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, 102:6, 1267-1289
I really like the idea of volunteered GIS information from the public because it would really make the availability of information so much more widespread. Also, it would make it a lot easier to get GIS data from remote places that normally may not have been mapped out if it wasn't for the submissions of people worldwide.
ReplyDeleteHowever, how do GIS analysts account for misrepresentations of info or blatant lies?