How the Crowdsourced Spatial Data Revolution is Being Used to Complement Official Data

这一研究项目侧重于新兴高科技技术的社会方面：众包、遥感和开放式地图绘制。其目标是促进对开放的、自愿的空间数据的作用的理解，以产生负责向所有公民提供服务的公共机构所需的知识。尽管众包地图包含了建设有弹性的社区和基础设施的重要信息，但自愿提供的空间数据很少被整合到官方地图中。地方和国家公共机构可能缺乏对数据质量、对标准的遵守和完整性的信任。研究人员将在一系列具有代表性的国家案例中，即中美洲和美国边境地区，仔细审查使用相对于官方地图的众包数据的概念和实践，这些案例的特点是一系列公共获取、技术和治理配置。这一感兴趣的区域利用了在巴拿马、哥斯达黎加、尼加拉瓜、洪都拉斯、萨尔瓦多、危地马拉、伯利兹、墨西哥以及邻国哥伦比亚和德克萨斯州的部分地区参与性跨境协调官方基本空间数据集的经验。这些发现将有助于扩大关于循证决策的知识基础。该项目将为在学术和政府部门之间建立社区奠定基础，这些部门对共享和共同创造关于特定应用的知识感兴趣，例如危害、发展和基础设施服务。研究团队将在科学、技术和社会研究领域提供理论见解和实践想法，以潜在地利用数据革命的好处造福公众。研究目的是(A)更好地了解在中美洲和美国边境(盲区)可以正式使用众包空间数据的时间和地点接受的障碍和条件；(B)更好地了解众包数据纳入官方数据源时的影响；以及(C)通过参与性研究(空白点)让志愿学生地图绘制人员和官方制图员参与，从而产生关于漏洞的缺失地理空间数据。混合方法利用研究小组作为指定当局、委员会主席和泛美地理与历史研究所成员的独特地位，泛美地理和历史研究所是美洲国家组织的一个专门机构。研究人员将从经验上发展关于与官方地图相关的众包地理空间数据的需求、机会、障碍、过程和做法的知识。该项目将利用重点小组、访谈、关键事件技术、广泛分布的网络调查、时间比较分析和参与性反馈，以英文和西班牙文编写同行评议的文章以及最佳做法出版物，供信息提供人、学者和决策者使用。该项目将培训和吸引德克萨斯理工大学的学生参与这项研究，德克萨斯理工大学是美国为数不多的为拉美裔服务的卡内基R1研究机构之一。学生将提高他们的劳动力对高要求的地理空间技术职业的准备。在华盛顿举行的美洲国家组织的最后一次专题讨论会将为成果的投入和传播提供一个论坛。结果将有助于洞察NSF的伟大想法，利用21世纪科学与工程的数据革命。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project focuses on societal aspects of emerging high-tech technologies: crowdsourcing, remote sensing, and open mapping. The goal is to advance understanding about the role of open, volunteered spatial data to produce knowledge needed by public institutions responsible for provision of services to all citizens. Despite that crowdsourced maps contain important information for building resilient communities and infrastructure, rarely are volunteered spatial data integrated into official cartographies. Local and national public institutions may lack trust of data quality, adherence to standards, and completeness. The researchers will closely examine the concepts and practices of using crowdsourced data relative to official cartographies within a small but representative set of national cases characterized by a range of public access, technologies, and governance configurations, namely Mesoamerica and the US Borderlands. This region of interest leverages experience with participatory cross-border harmonization of official fundamental spatial datasets in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, and parts of neighboring Colombia and Texas. Findings will help expand the base of knowledge about evidence-based decision-making. The project will establish a foundation for building community across academic and government sectors interested in sharing and co-creating knowledge on specific applications, such as for hazards, development, and infrastructure services. The research team will provide theoretical insights within Science, Technology, and Society research as well as practical ideas to potentially harness the benefits of the data revolution for the public good.The research aims are (a) to better understand the barriers and conditions for acceptance when and where crowdsourced spatial data is available to be officially used in Mesoamerica and the US Borderlands (blind spots); (b) to better understand the impact of crowdsourced data when incorporated into official data sources; and (c) to produce missing geospatial data on vulnerabilities by engaging volunteer student mappers and official cartographers through participatory research (blank spots). A mixed-method approach leverages the unique positions of the research team as appointed authorities, commission chairs, and members of the PanAmerican Institute for Geography and History, a specialized arm of the Organization of American States. The researchers will empirically develop knowledge about the needs, opportunities, obstacles, processes and practices of crowdsourcing geospatial data relative to official cartographies. The project will use focus groups, interviews, critical incident techniques, broadly distributed web-based surveys, temporal comparative analysis, and participatory feedback to develop peer-reviewed articles as well as publications of best practices for use by informants, academics, and decision makers, in both English and Spanish. The project will train and engage students in this research from Texas Tech, one of only a few Hispanic Serving, Carnegie R1 Research Institutions in the US. Students will improve their workforce readiness for high-demand geospatial technologies careers. A final symposia at the OAS in Washington DC will provide a forum for input to deliverables and for dissemination. Results will contribute insight on NSF's Big Ideas, Harnessing the Data Revolution for 21st Century Science and Engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.