IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jgeosy/v21y2019i1d10.1007_s10109-018-0282-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the use of crowdsourced geographic information in defence: challenges and opportunities

Author

Listed:
  • Nikolaos Papapesios

    (University College London (UCL))

  • Claire Ellul

    (University College London (UCL))

  • Amanda Shakir

    (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory)

  • Glen Hart

    (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory)

Abstract

Geographic data are used by United Kingdom (UK) defence for purposes including peacekeeping, humanitarian aid and disaster relief, and fighting wars. The geographic extent of defence data covers the world, with greater focus directed towards areas considered to be of current interest. Traditionally, these data have been officially sourced, e.g. via National Mapping Agencies, but there is now increasing interest in the potential of crowdsourced geographic data to supplement authoritative data where they are not available, outdated or incomplete. Volunteered geographic information (VGI) and social media have the potential to provide this needed missing information. This paper presents initial work carried out in identifying the potential of crowdsourced geographic information in defence. We first provide a short description of the role of UK defence and review the existing literature on crowdsourced geographic information in defence, as well as generic VGI quality assessment methods. We then explore the potential of crowdsourced data in real-world applications: the conflation of VGI and social media with official data for effective decision-making in war zones, and the potential for crowdsourcing to increase effective collaboration between machines and humans in disaster situations. Based on our review, we outline specific research challenges for deploying crowdsourced geographic information in defence, focussing on data quality and fitness-for-purpose assessment. Defence-specific constraints include the need for rapid quality assessment processes and the need to communicate high-quality information effectively in situations where rapid decision-making is required. Ethical issues are also of fundamental importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolaos Papapesios & Claire Ellul & Amanda Shakir & Glen Hart, 2019. "Exploring the use of crowdsourced geographic information in defence: challenges and opportunities," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 133-160, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jgeosy:v:21:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10109-018-0282-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10109-018-0282-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10109-018-0282-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10109-018-0282-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mordechai Haklay, 2010. "How Good is Volunteered Geographical Information? A Comparative Study of OpenStreetMap and Ordnance Survey Datasets," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 37(4), pages 682-703, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrés Vallone & Coro Chasco & Beatriz Sánchez, 2020. "Strategies to access web-enabled urban spatial data for socioeconomic research using R functions," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 217-239, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boeing, Geoff, 2017. "OSMnx: New Methods for Acquiring, Constructing, Analyzing, and Visualizing Complex Street Networks," SocArXiv q86sd, Center for Open Science.
    2. Yagci Sokat, Kezban & Dolinskaya, Irina S. & Smilowitz, Karen & Bank, Ryan, 2018. "Incomplete information imputation in limited data environments with application to disaster response," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(2), pages 466-485.
    3. Zhenghong Tang & Tiantian Liu, 2016. "Evaluating Internet-based public participation GIS (PPGIS) and volunteered geographic information (VGI) in environmental planning and management," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(6), pages 1073-1090, June.
    4. Massimiliano Pittore & Marc Wieland & Kevin Fleming, 2017. "Perspectives on global dynamic exposure modelling for geo-risk assessment," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 86(1), pages 7-30, March.
    5. Katerina Tzavella & Alexander Fekete & Frank Fiedrich, 2018. "Opportunities provided by geographic information systems and volunteered geographic information for a timely emergency response during flood events in Cologne, Germany," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 91(1), pages 29-57, April.
    6. Geoff Boeing, 2020. "Planarity and street network representation in urban form analysis," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(5), pages 855-869, June.
    7. Duncan Light & Craig Young, 2015. "Toponymy as Commodity: Exploring the Economic Dimensions of Urban Place Names," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 435-450, May.
    8. Zhao, Pengxiang & Jia, Tao & Qin, Kun & Shan, Jie & Jiao, Chenjing, 2015. "Statistical analysis on the evolution of OpenStreetMap road networks in Beijing," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 420(C), pages 59-72.
    9. Mikko Rönneberg & Mari Laakso & Tapani Sarjakoski, 2019. "Map Gretel: social map service supporting a national mapping agency in data collection," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 43-59, March.
    10. Heidrun Zeug & Gunter Zeug & Conrad Bielski & Gloria Solano-Hermosilla & Robert M’barek, 2017. "Innovative Food Price Collection in Developing Countries. Focus on Crowdsourcing in Africa," JRC Research Reports JRC103294, Joint Research Centre.
    11. Votsis, Athanasios, 2017. "Planning for green infrastructure: The spatial effects of parks, forests, and fields on Helsinki's apartment prices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 279-289.
    12. Ding, Rui & Ujang, Norsidah & Hamid, Hussain bin & Manan, Mohd Shahrudin Abd & He, Yuou & Li, Rong & Wu, Jianjun, 2018. "Detecting the urban traffic network structure dynamics through the growth and analysis of multi-layer networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 503(C), pages 800-817.
    13. Shiwei Lu & Shih-Lung Shaw & Zhixiang Fang & Xirui Zhang & Ling Yin, 2017. "Exploring the Effects of Sampling Locations for Calibrating the Huff Model Using Mobile Phone Location Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, January.
    14. Amin Mobasheri & Yeran Sun & Lukas Loos & Ahmed Loai Ali, 2017. "Are Crowdsourced Datasets Suitable for Specialized Routing Services? Case Study of OpenStreetMap for Routing of People with Limited Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-17, June.
    15. Bidur Devkota & Hiroyuki Miyazaki & Apichon Witayangkurn & Sohee Minsun Kim, 2019. "Using Volunteered Geographic Information and Nighttime Light Remote Sensing Data to Identify Tourism Areas of Interest," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-29, August.
    16. Mengdi Zhang & Xiao Wang & Zengxiang Zhang & Xiaoli Zhao, 2018. "Assessing the Potential of Rural Settlement Land Consolidation in China: A Method Based on Comprehensive Evaluation of Restricted Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, August.
    17. Hae Ok Choi, 2020. "An Evolutionary Approach to Technology Innovation of Cadastre for Smart Land Management Policy," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-19, February.
    18. Pedro Lopes & Luís Almeida & João Pinto & Justino Jesus & Didiana Fernandes & Isabel Vieira & Ricardo Gama, 2019. "Open Tourist Information System: a platform for touristic information management and outreach," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 577-593, December.
    19. Roman Lukyanenko & Jeffrey Parsons & Yolanda F. Wiersma, 2014. "The IQ of the Crowd: Understanding and Improving Information Quality in Structured User-Generated Content," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 669-689, December.
    20. K. Graff & C. Lissak & Y. Thiery & O. Maquaire & S. Costa & B. Laignel, 2019. "Analysis and quantification of potential consequences in multirisk coastal context at different spatial scales (Normandy, France)," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 99(2), pages 637-664, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jgeosy:v:21:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10109-018-0282-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.