Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) is considered to be the frontier of modern mapping. VGI describes the process by which individuals generate and upload data to the internet, where it is analyzed and sometimes redistributed. This information crowd-sourcing includes everything from geotagged photographs to cell phone tracking, and its has led to a flurry of development in the past decade (Goodchild and Li, 110). The most popular site exemplifying the use of VGI is OpenStreetMap, which serves a user-created world map complete with layers and notes for sharing.
For the purposes of disseminating information about the Western Front and connecting individuals to this place across time and space, VGI presents opportunities to web developers that would not exist otherwise. For example, a map could be created that allows users to share photographs, videos, and experiences to other users across the globe. The community can thus build its own forum that brings the experience of the front through the computer to end users, allowing some limited by mobility or money from otherwise experiencing the journey for themselves. Data like this can also be used to inform decisions about travel, or inform viewers about distant history. By opening up this outlet to the world as a whole, a far more comprehensive online experience can be created. So, for this week, my task was to develop a web map that enables users to share their experience with the world.
VGI:
The end goal for this aspect of the website is to serve a map that allows users to share location-based media and knowledge. This process consists of three main steps: making a layer of data that will be edited by the end-users, serve that data on the web in a map, and designing map pop-ups that effectively display this information. In the case of this data, a point layer file was developed in ArcMap, then served on the UW-Eau Claire Geography web SQL server. This was embedded into an html map file document using free ESRI templates, and the final result can be seen here.
Issues with VGI:
The largest challenge to VGI in web GIS is QU/QC. Data quality provided by untrained users has limited usability in comparison with more accurate data that can be generated by professionals. Before VGI, geographic data would be checked for accuracy with processes that control for data quality during the recording of the data and again later by documenting methods and references. This will not happen with VGI, and metadata quality will be lacking in the finished product.
Other issues which are relevant to
VGI are privacy (not everyone is aware of the data that they volunteer!) and
completeness. Furthermore, a developer
needs to ensure compliance with laws not only relating to privacy but also
decency (not letting users “feed the trolls”) and copywrite infringement. This can be helped by utilization of a "flagging" tool that users can mark undesirable posts while alerting administrators of the offending content.
Sources:
Goodchild, Michael and Li, Linna. 2012. "Assuring the quality of Volunteered Geographic Information." Spatial Statistics. 1: 110-120.
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