Assessing the Trustworthiness of Crowdsourced Rainfall Networks: A Reputation System Approach

Abstract

AbstractHigh resolution and accurate rainfall information is essential to modeling and predicting hydrological processes. Crowdsourced personal weather stations (PWSs) have become increasingly popular in recent years and can provide dense spatial and temporal resolution in rainfall estimates. However, their usefulness could be limited due to less trust in crowdsourced data compared to traditional data sources. Using crowdsourced PWSs data without a robust evaluation of its trustworthiness can result in inaccurate rainfall estimates as PWSs are installed and maintained by non‐experts. In this study, we advance the Reputation System for Crowdsourced Rainfall Networks (RSCRN) to bridge this trust gap by assigning dynamic trust scores to PWSs. Based on rainfall data collected from 18 PWSs in two dense clusters in Houston, Texas, USA as a case study, we found that using RSCRN‐derived trust scores can increase the accuracy of 15‐min PWS rainfall estimates when compared to rainfall observations recorded at the city's high‐fidelity rainfall stations. Overall, RSCRN rainfall estimates improved for 77% (48 out of 62) of the analyzed storm events, with a median root‐mean‐square error (RMSE) improvement of 27.3%. Compared to an existing PWS quality control method, results showed that RSCRN improved rainfall estimates for 71% of the storm events (44 out of 62), with a median RMSE improvement of 18.7%. Using RSCRN‐derived trust scores can make the rapidly growing network of PWSs a more useful resource for hydrologic applications, greatly improving knowledge of rainfall patterns in areas with dense PWSs.