Over the past 4 years, over 250 researchers from universities, national mapping agencies, environmental protection agencies, research institutions and companies came together to improve the understanding and utilisation of  crowdsourced geographic information, also known as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). The research networks were supported through the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) association. The activities of the networks included focused working groups, summer schools, joint publications and many meetings across Europe.  The networks ‘Mapping and the Citizen Sensor’ (TD1202), and the ‘European Network for Research on Geographic Information Crowdsourcing (ENERGIC)’ (IC1203), are now drawing to a close. 

We have already achieved significant outputs: a European Handbook of Crowdsourced Geographic Infromation, and a major review of VGI, which are open and free. 

To celebrate the achievements of the networks, and to share the experiences, lessons, finding, and developments that the networks have nurtured, we are organising a two day event at the Royal Geographical Society, which will bring together the researchers from these networks, as well as leading speakers from this multidisciplinary field.  

The topics covered during the meeting will be relevant for many disciplines like GISscience, sociology, geography, cartography, environmental sciences, citizen science, and crowdsourcing studies. If your work relates to geographic information and crowdsourcing, this event is for you - come and meet many of the leading European researchers in this area. 

During the event, both updated and challenging research outputs and projects will be presented. The poster session will be an exciting exhibition of case studies and ongoing research.

Some of the key speakers in the event include:

Giles Foody  - Professor of Geographical Information Science, University of Nottingham, Chair, COST Action TD1202

Cristina Capineri  - Professor of Geography, University of Siena . Chair, COST Action IC1203

Steven Stehman - Professor, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Mike Goodchild - Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara and affiliate professor, University of Washington

Kate Chapman - chair of OpenStreetMap foundation board and Chief Technology Officer of the Cadasta Foundation  

Preliminary programme:

Thursday 13th Oct 2016

9:30 Arrival and coffee

10:00 Opening - Introduction to COST Association and the activites of costs networks

11:00 Summary of the "Mapping the Citizen Sensor" network (Giles Foody)

11:20 Summary of the ENERGIC Network (Cristina Capineri)

10:15 Keynote by Steven Stehmen - sampling and  crowdsourced information  

11:35 Launch of VGI game "Mapping Citizen Science" by Juhani Kettunen - an active gamification demonstration during the conference

11:40-13:00 Lunch, including a poster and video session in the Education Centre

13:00-14:00 Joint panel "The Future of VGI research" (Chair: Claire Ellul) including Vyron Antoniou, Nuno Charneca, and Stefano de Sabbata. 

14:00-15:00 - National Mapping Agencies (NMAs) quality, and and VGI (TD1202 WG3WG4, IC1203 WG2): (Chair: Tobias Kellenberger)

 Cidalia Fonte (Portugal), Ana-Maria Olteanu-Raimond (France), Magdalena Grus and Mari Laakso (Finland) 

15:00-15:30 Coffee break

15:30-17:30 - Quality of Crowdsourced Geographic Information (IC1203 WG2/TD1202 WG4)

Benedicte Bucher (IGN France), 

17:30-19:00 - Public event (Chair: Muki Haklay)

Science: Mike Goodchild - VGI: reflecting on COST actions books (30 min)

Practice: Kate Chapman - learning from the field - OSM, H.O.T &, Cadasta (30 min)

Q &A

19:00 - Reception & Poster session in the Education Centre

Friday 14th Oct 2016

9:00-10:00 Opening  and several 10 minutes talks from people who carried out short visits across Europe. (Chairs: Marco Painho) 

Alessia Calafiore (Università di Torino), Jade Georis-Creuseveau, PASSAGES (UMR 5319 CNRS), Sofia Basiouka (UCL),  Steven Verstockt (Ghent University), Matej Nikšič  (Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia), Lucy Bastin (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra)

10:00-11:00 Datathon Competition with introductory talk and 3 finalists presenting their contributions (Chairs; Ross Purves, Frank Ostermann, Rob Lemmens)

Gabriele Prestifilippo and Carolina Arias Munoz:  Relationships between telecom data and crowdsourced weather observations

Aleksandra Stojnev and Dragan Stojanović: Combining Telecom Open Big Data and VGI

Antonello Romano, Stefano Picascia: Cycling the City

 11:00-12:00 Session showcasing outputs from both networks (data mining, semantics and VGI)

Peter Mooney, Rene Westerholt, Lex Comber, Gennady Adrienko

12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:00-15:00 Session showcasing outputs from both networks

15:00-16:00 - Closing Session, Announcement of Winners (Game Winner, Best Poster Award, Datathon Winner), Presentation from COST Citizen Science EU and other relevant COST Actions (Marisa Ponti - COST CS EU)

FAQs

How can I get a discount to the event?

If you are a member of either COST Action, get in touch with Linda See (TD1202) or Cristina Capineri (IC1203) to receive the discount code