Introduction to Crowdsourcing
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Web Mapping
Agenda
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Citizen Mapping
OpenStreetMap
Google Map Maker
Google Earth
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the process of getting work, usually
online, from a crowd of people. The word is a combination
of the words 'crowd' and 'outsourcing'. The idea is to take
work and outsource it to a crowd of workers.
Famous Example: Wikipedia.
Crowdsourcing & Quality: The principle of crowdsourcing is
that more heads are better than one. By canvassing a large
crowd of people for ideas, skills, or participation, the quality
of content and idea generation will be superior.
http://dailycrowdsource.com/
Crowdsourcing is simply asking somebody to do
something! You have contributed to crowdsourcing,
if you have:
- answered a question
- made a correction or submission
- told a story
- answered a survey
- voted, tagged, commented
Crowdsourcing using maps is also commonly known as Citizen Mapping
Examples
Co – Map Military Project
http://www.comap.ca/military/
An interactive map that allows users to plot and upload Canadian military heritage, including monuments,
statues, and plaques, in an effort to establish an online database
: http://www.urbanforestmap.org/map
OpenStreetMap
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https://medium.com/medium-for-haiti/f4582ed41656
www.openstreetmap.org
San Francisco Park Alliance
To increase awareness and use of parks and recreation
Online Mapping
OpenStreetMap
Google Map Maker
http://www.google.ca/mapmaker
Google Earth
Google Earth
• Source for information on land and people
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Archaeological information
Social and cultural information
Urban and commercial development
Geographical information
Natural disasters and restoration
Earthquake tracking and projections
Mapping! Simple and advanced
Georeferencing photos and maps – higher resolution or historical
3-D Model building – (infrastructure planning)
Virtual biographies
Navigation and quickest routes
Google Earth and Planning
• Using imagery to evaluate city grid and street
planning
• Urban development over time
• uWaterloo development over time
• From his office chair in Perth, Professor Kennedy has remotely
identified thousands of archaeological sites without having to step
foot on Saudi Arabian or Yemeni soil. Historically it has been
difficult to undertake ground surveys and aerial photographs of
these areas are seldom available for research, making the countries
some of the least explored archaeologically.
• By carefully studying satellite imagery of the Arabian peninsula in
Google Earth, Professor Kennedy has unearthed an enormous
record of archaeological sites, from ancient geoglyphs to stone
Wheels to Pendant-shaped tombs and animal traps called kites that
could be up to 9,000 years old.
http://readwrite.com/2010/04/08/scientist_uses_google_earth_to_find_ancient_ancest
Google Earth Blog
Discussion Forum
• Discover some citizen mapping projects that
you are interested in
OR
• Contribute your local knowledge to Google
Map Maker
• Share with the class online
Google Earth Assignment
Please complete the tutorial and then create a map in Google
Earth with the following components:
• A title
• A written introduction to your project
• At least five placemarks, embedded with html tags, and
images, if possible.
• Imported KML file(s)
• A screen overlay (i.e. a legend)