Chris Parker
Date:
17th March 2009
Title:
How Volunteered Geographic Information changes everything, and
what it's worth?

Presentation Outline
1. What is 'Volunteered Geographic
●
Information'?
2. How VGI Impacts our lives
●
3. Initial Study Proposal
●
4. Recap/ Questions?
●

1. What is Volunteered
Geographic Information
(why you should be getting excited)

1.1. Introducing VGI
“The act of creating
●
geographic
information by largely
untrained volunteers”.
(Goodchild 2007)
For this study, “data
●
volunteered by the
public for use with the
public”

1.2. Introducing VGI Maps
Taking 'Volunteered
●
Geographic
Information' and
applying a
geospatial element
Example:
●
OpenStreetMap
(OpenStreetMap 2009)

1.3. Introducing Mashups
“A web application that
●
combines data from
more than one source
into a single integrated
tool” (Wikipedia 2009)
Gained widespread
●
acceptance after
introduction of Google (Rolfe 2008)
Earth (Goodchild 2007)

1.4. Introducing Mashups
Mashups allow for
●
'emotions' to be
derived from maps
The Map as an
–
interactive
interface (Roush
2007)
Shared
–
experiences (Google Maps 2009)
Photos
●
Videos
●
Photosynths
●

1.5. Why Research VGI?
Very exciting field of
●
research ?
? ?
Vast future potential
●
in society
?
Landmark ?
–
navigation (May,
Ross et al. 2003
? ?
Potential to provide
●
?
additional 'Value' to
maps

1.6. Why Research VGI?
A very important area
●
?
of little research
? ?
The 'Value' of VGI is
●
undefined!
The 'academic' field of ? ?
●
VGI is yet to be fully
'defined'
? ?
?

2. How VGI Impacts our lives

2.1. Case Study
The world is badly
●
mapped (Goodchild
2007)
What to do when
●
aid relies on maps?
How important is
●
time? (Cak-cak 2009)
(www.sodahead.com 2008)

2.2. Case Study
Create new maps in areas where no
●
adequate map is available
Gaza Strip 2009 (w ik i.o p e n s tr e e tm a p .o r g
–
2009)
Mashup 'lost people' notices
●
Hurricane Katrina (Tapscott, Williams
–
2008)
Provide an emotive link to the disaster
●
Experience Based Economy (Pine 2004)
–

3. PhD Study Proposal

3.1. PhD Study Proposal
How VGI Map
●
Stakeholders
perceive 'Value'
Human factors
●
focus, not social
psychology
The first study to
●
look into this topic
Case study =
●
OpenStreetMap

3.2. PhD Study Questions
1. Who are the stakeholders in VGI
applications, and what are their
relationships?
2. What is commonly perceived as 'value' in
data amongst VGI Stakeholders?
3. How are electronic maps utilised in the
online community?

4. Recap/ Questions?

4.1. Recap
Researching what human factors influence
●
the value of a VGI system?
Mashups are the engines of social VGI
●
Little research in this important area
●
To be of use, one must understand Value
●
Value of VGI is currently undefined!
●
st
The 1 Case study will investigate
●
perceptions of 'value' in VGI Stakeholders

Just One More Thing...
(OpenOffice.org 2008)
(Portableapps.com 2009)
(Davey 2008)

Thank You
(Next time, the answers)

5.1. References
CAK-CAK, 2009. 20081224_0438: Jakarta (Set). http://flickr.com/photos/cak2/3213765429/: Flickr.
DAVEY, P., 2008. Gimp 2.4. http://www.gimp.org/about/splash/stable.html: www.gimp.org.
GOODCHILD, M.F., 2007. Citizens as Sensors: The world of Volunteered Geography. GeoJournal, 69(4), pp. 211-221.
GOOGLE MAPS, 2009-last update, google maps + photos mashup layer [Homepage of Google], [Online]. Available:
http://maps.google.co.uk/ [February 9th, 2009].
LITTLE CHEF, , 2009-last update, your local little chefs [Homepage of www.littlechef.co.uk], [Online]. Available:
http://www.littlechef.co.uk/findalittlechef.php?action=closestchefs [February 8th, 2009].
MAY, A., ROSS, T., BAYER, S.H. and TARKIAINEN, M.J., 2003. Pedestrian navigation aids: information requirements and
design implications. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 7(6), pp. 331-338.
N E W S .B B C .C O .U K , D e c e m b e r 1 5 th , 2 0 0 5 -la s t u p d a te , w ik ip e d ia s u r v iv e s r e s e a r c h t e s t [H o m e p a g e o f B B C N e w s O n lin e ],
[O n lin e ]. A v a ila b le : h ttp ://n e w s .b b c .c o .u k /1 /h i/te c h n o lo g y /4 5 3 0 9 3 0 .s tm [J a n u a r y 2 7 th , 2 0 0 9 ].
OPENOFFICE.ORG, 2008. Main OpenOffice.org logo. http://marketing.openoffice.org/art/galleries/marketing/logos/#main:
OpenOffice.
OPENSTREETMAP, February, 2009-last update, OpenStreetMap: the free wiki world map [Homepage of
www.OpenStreetMap.org], [Online]. Available: http://www.openstreetmap.org/ [February 10th, 2009].
PINE, J., February, 2004-last update, what do consumers really want? [Homepage of TED], [Online]. Available:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/joseph_pine_on_what_consumers_want.html [February 10th, 2009].
ROLFE, A., 2008-last update, east hampshire walks [Homepage of Bikes and Boots], [Online]. Available:
http://www.bikesandboots.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=139&Itemid=78 [March 12th, 2009].

5.2. References (continued)
ROUSH, W., 2007. Second Earth. Technology Review, 2007(July/ August), pp. 39-48.
THURLOW, C. and BROWN, A., 2003. Generation Txt? The sociolinguistics of young people's text-messaging. Discourse
Analysis Online, 1(1), pp. 30.
W IK I.O P E N S T R E E T M A P .O R G , M a r c h 2 n d , 2 0 0 9 -la s t u p d a te , W ik iP r o je c t p a le s tin e g a z a [H o m e p a g e o f
w ik i.o p e n s t r e e tm a p ], [O n lin e ]. A v a ila b le : h ttp ://w ik i.o p e n s tr e e tm a p .o r g /w ik i/W ik iP r o je c t _ P a le s t in e _ G a z a [M a r c h 1 2 th ,
2 0 0 9 ].
WIKIPEDIA, January 26th, 2009-last update, mashup (web application hybrid) [Homepage of Wikipedia (En)], [Online].
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_(web_application_hybrid) [January 27th, 2009].
WWW.SODAHEAD.COM, July 25th, 2008-last update, indian ocean Earthquake/Tsunami 2004 [Homepage of Denzel's
Blog], [Online]. Available: http://www.sodahead.com/blog/10107/indian-ocean-earthquaketsunami-2004/ [February 8th,
2009].