Usability of VGI for validation of land cover maps

Fonte, Cidalia; Bastin, Lucy; See, Linda; Foody, Giles M.; Lupia, Flavio

Abstract

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) represents a growing source of potentially valuable data for many applications, including land cover map validation. It is still an emerging field and many different approaches can be used to take value from VGI, but also many pros and cons are related to its use. Therefore, since it is timely to get an overview of the subject, the aim of this article is to review the use of VGI as reference data for land cover map validation. The main platforms and types of VGI that are used and which are potentially useful are analysed. Since quality is a fundamental issue in map validation, the quality procedures used by the platforms that collect VGI to increase and control data quality are reviewed and a framework for addressing VGI quality assessment is proposed. A review of cases where VGI was used as an additional data source to assist in map validation is made, as well as cases where only VGI was used, indicating the procedures used to assess VGI quality and fitness for use. A discussion and some conclusions are drawn on best practices, future potential and the challenges of the use of VGI for land cover map validation.

Citation

Fonte, C., Bastin, L., See, L., Foody, G. M., & Lupia, F. (2015). Usability of VGI for validation of land cover maps. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 29(7), https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2015.1018266

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 17, 2015
• Deposit Date: Mar 14, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 14, 2016
• Journal: International Journal of Geographical Information Science
• Print ISSN: 1365-8816
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-8824
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 7
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2015.1018266
• Keywords: VGI, Land Cover/Land Use, Quality, Validation, Crowdsourcing
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/747500
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13658816.2015.1018266#.Vuaj-Gfctes
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Africa Review on 17/03/2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13658816.2015.1018266