scholarly journals Corporate Editors in the Evolving Landscape of OpenStreetMap

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennings Anderson ◽  
Dipto Sarkar ◽  
Leysia Palen
Keyword(s):  
Data Quality ◽  
Road Networks ◽  
Volunteered Geographic Information ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multiple Uses ◽  
Map Data ◽  
Information Project

OpenStreetMap (OSM), the largest Volunteered Geographic Information project in the world, is characterized both by its map as well as the active community of the millions of mappers who produce it. The discourse about participation in the OSM community largely focuses on the motivations for why members contribute map data and the resulting data quality. Recently, large corporations including Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook have been hiring editors to contribute to the OSM database. In this article, we explore the influence these corporate editors are having on the map by first considering the history of corporate involvement in the community and then analyzing historical quarterly-snapshot OSM-QA-Tiles to show where and what these corporate editors are mapping. Cumulatively, millions of corporate edits have a global footprint, but corporations vary in geographic reach, edit types, and quantity. While corporations currently have a major impact on road networks, non-corporate mappers edit more buildings and points-of-interest: representing the majority of all edits, on average. Since corporate editing represents the latest stage in the evolution of corporate involvement, we raise questions about how the OSM community—and researchers—might proceed as corporate editing grows and evolves as a mechanism for expanding the map for multiple uses.

scholarly journals The Spatial-Comprehensiveness (S-COM) Index: Identifying Optimal Spatial Extents in Volunteered Geographic Information Point Datasets

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 497
Author(s):  
Haydn Lawrence ◽  
Colin Robertson ◽  
Rob Feick ◽  
Trisalyn Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Volunteered Geographic Information ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Quality Metric ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Feasible Study

Social media and other forms of volunteered geographic information (VGI) are used frequently as a source of fine-grained big data for research. While employing geographically referenced social media data for a wide array of purposes has become commonplace, the relevant scales over which these data apply to is typically unknown. For researchers to use VGI appropriately (e.g., aggregated to areal units (e.g., neighbourhoods) to elicit key trend or demographic information), general methods for assessing the quality are required, particularly, the explicit linkage of data quality and relevant spatial scales, as there are no accepted standards or sampling controls. We present a data quality metric, the Spatial-comprehensiveness Index (S-COM), which can delineate feasible study areas or spatial extents based on the quality of uneven and dynamic geographically referenced VGI. This scale-sensitive approach to analyzing VGI is demonstrated over different grains with data from two citizen science initiatives. The S-COM index can be used both to assess feasible study extents based on coverage, user-heterogeneity, and density and to find feasible sub-study areas from a larger, indefinite area. The results identified sub-study areas of VGI for focused analysis, allowing for a larger adoption of a similar methodology in multi-scale analyses of VGI.

scholarly journals XIX.—The City of Cumæ, and the recent Excavations there

Archaeologia ◽  
1858 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 316-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Ashpitel
Keyword(s):  
The Earth ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
The World ◽  
Great Poet ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

There is scarcely a district in the world endowed with such singular beauty, and possessing such deep points of interest, as that extending about ten or twelve miles westward from Naples. A sky of such brilliancy as only Italy can shew; a sea of colours like the transparent hues of the sapphire and emerald; mountains on land and mountainous islands rising from the sea twice and thrice the height of those in Wales, and crowned with snow for a third of the year. The air of extraordinary clearness and purity, and redolent with the odours of the myrtle, orange, and citron. The earth covered with rich crops of maize, the vine hanging in a cordage of festoons from tree to tree, huge groves of figs and olives twisted in every fantastic form, and interspersed with the feathery palm, forests of pine, leccio, and cypress, all form a scene of beauty difficult to describe. But how is the interest heightened when we reflect on the history of the spot! We are in the scene so exquisitely described by Virgil in the Æneid. Here are the Isles of the Sirens and of Circe, the Tomb of Misenus, the Grotto of the Sibyl, the mysterious River Cocytus, the Lake Avernus, and the Elysian Fields. Here, too, the great poet is supposed to have been interred. The heights are crowned with the remains of sumptuous villas, where Caesar, Crassus, Pompey, Lucullus, and Augustus feasted, and where Cicero penned his best philosophical works.

scholarly journals MAPPING THE WORLD – A NEW APPROACH FOR VOLUNTEERED GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION IN THE CLOUD

2015 ◽  
Vol XL-6/W1 ◽  
pp. 9-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Moeller ◽  
S. Furhmann
Keyword(s):  
Volunteered Geographic Information ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Less Developed Countries ◽  
American Red Cross ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
Entire World

The OSM project provides a geodata basis for the entire world under the CC-SA licence agreement. But some parts of the world are mapped more densely compared to other regions. However, many less developed countries show a lack of valid geo-information. Africa for example is a sparsely mapped continent. During a huge Ebola outbreak in 2014 the lack of data became apparent. Help organization like the American Red Cross and the Humanitarian Openstreetmap Team organized mappings campaign to fill the gaps with valid OSM geodata. This paper gives a short introduction into this mapping activity.

scholarly journals SMARTPHONE-BASED VOLUNTEERED GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION (VGI) FOR SLUM MAPPING IN POKHARA CITY OF NEPAL

2019 ◽  
Vol XLII-5/W3 ◽  
pp. 91-97
Author(s):  
K. Ranabhat ◽  
D. R. Paudyal
Keyword(s):  
Open Source Software ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Volunteered Geographic Information ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Attribute Data ◽  
Study Results ◽  
The World ◽  
Management Issues

Abstract. Informal settlements in urban areas are increasing rapidly throughout the world and regularisation of these settlements is being one of the challenging issues. Various study results have shown that conventional cadastral based information system approach and government managed institutional arrangements do not appropriately address land management issues of slum settlements. The aim of this study is to explore application of smartphone based Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and open spatial tools for slum mapping in developing countries such as in Nepal. A case of Pokhara Metropolitan city has been considered to explore the potential of utilization of smartphone based VGI and open spatial tools for slum mapping. Attribute and spatial data were collected using Smartphones and community-driven approach. Spatial and attribute data collected from 229 respondents of household’s surveys are integrated, analysed and interpreted and presented in this paper. Open Street Map (OSM) platforms and QGIS open source software have been used for slum mapping. These maps could play an important role in providing spatial information to the local government and planning authority in Nepal. This research paper concludes that smartphone based VGI and open portals such OSM have great potential to contribute to develop slum database and in providing information to plan various strategies, which aims at understanding, regularisation and upgrading slums.

scholarly journals Spatial and Temporal Patterns in Volunteer Data Contribution Activities: A Case Study of eBird

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 597
Author(s):  
Guiming Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Temporal Patterns ◽  
Volunteered Geographic Information ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Dynamics ◽  
The World

Volunteered geographic information (VGI) has great potential to reveal spatial and temporal dynamics of geographic phenomena. However, a variety of potential biases in VGI are recognized, many of which root from volunteer data contribution activities. Examining patterns in volunteer data contribution activities helps understand the biases. Using eBird as a case study, this study investigates spatial and temporal patterns in data contribution activities of eBird contributors. eBird sampling efforts are biased in space and time. Most sampling efforts are concentrated in areas of denser populations and/or better accessibility, with the most intensively sampled areas being in proximity to big cities in developed regions of the world. Reported bird species are also spatially biased towards areas where more sampling efforts occur. Temporally, eBird sampling efforts and reported bird species are increasing over the years, with significant monthly fluctuations and notably more data reported on weekends. Such trends are driven by the expansion of eBird and characteristics of bird species and observers. The fitness of use of VGI should be assessed in the context of applications by examining spatial, temporal and other biases. Action may need to be taken to account for the biases so that robust inferences can be made from VGI observations.

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