Chapter 8 - On volunteered geographic information quality: a framework for sharing data quality information

Abstract

One of the most challenging issues regarding the use of volunteered geographic information (VGI) is data quality. The usually loose, nonhierarchical, and uncontrolled production process of VGI is based on contributions from non-GI professionals which raises concerns about the overall quality and fitness-for-purpose of such spatial data. At the same time, new sources of uncertainty have surfaced, which mainly relate to the underlying socio-economic factors of the areas mapped. In this context, established quality evaluation methods are hard to implement. The chapter describes a new quality evaluation framework that will facilitate VGI data acceptance. The chapter argues that the main obstacle to VGI acceptance is that there is imbalanced information regarding the overall VGI data quality between VGI producers and VGI consumers. A new framework for VGI quality evaluation is suggested, which is based on Economic theories. The work of Akerlof, Spence, and Stiglitz on the analysis of markets with asymmetric information, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics, is used as the backbone for the suggested VGI quality evaluation framework. In the course of the chapter, the concepts and the positions of the three Nobel Prize laureates are discussed and ways to be implemented in addressing the issue of VGI data quality evaluation are presented.