Crowdsourcing

在我的概述文章中25年的发展’（（gimJune 2012) written as a tribute to the 25th anniversary of this magazine, I touched upon crowdsourcing as a development which could create great opportunities. It also triggered the startup of a new series of which the first article is published in this issue and focuses on crowdsourcing for cadastral purposes (see page 20). What do we mean by crowdsourcing? The term has existed for some time now but without a unified definition; the meaning depends on the background of the user.

基本上，众包意味着其他人通常免费使用非专业人士收集的数据。这些其他可能是外行，但专业人士也使用这些数据。为什么外行人会花时间和精力来收集数据而无需经济薪酬？原因之一是为了休闲和成为智力社区的一部分的好感觉。例如，可以发现，被​​认为被认为是在政府机构中堆积的数据处于严重的不存在或由于高成本或版权保护而无法获得的状态。一旦惊奇消失了，人们可能会说话“为什么不自己做；智能手机，地球观看者和Web 2.0是否到位？”结果是创建OpenStreetMap，只是提到一个著名的例子。为此类举措做出贡献的动机似乎是：“我们的外人比官员做得更好。”另一方面，在不知道其他人正在使用他们收集的数据的同时，人群可能会采购。 Using the GNSS tracking of many car-navigation systems, road managers are able to rapidly detect traffic congestion; the car drivers are unaware that somebody is using data acquired by their on board devices.

The above two applications are either based on the assumption that a relatively small effort may gain mutual benefits, or on unawareness that others use data a personal device collects. There is a third important incentive for laymen to collect and disseminate geo-data which is when one has a special relationship with one or more pieces of land. This can be the restaurant manager who puts location and other data on a Web 2.0 platform for marketing purposes or the real estate broker who does the same with houses for sale. Such easily accessible data may not only be beneficial for the general public but also for demographers and urban planners. Also land owners / users living in a country where cadastres are just quasi existent will be interested in collecting data on their plots. Here a geographically close community may decide to map and register their properties using modern technology. This could result in local shadow cadastres in countries where cadastres are incomplete or in unofficial cadastres which could – eventually – be recognised by the national authorities.

The series on crowdsourcing aims to cover examples of the above. Feel free to contact me should you wish to make a contribution.