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Title
FROM THE CROWD SOURCING TO THE INSTITUTIONAL SOURCING: A WAY TO COOPERATE BETWEEN REGIONAL AND LOCAL ADMINISTRATION
Abstract
The phenomenon of the volunteered GI (VGI) or crowd sourcing usually refers to the gathering and sharing of geographic information by volunteers. However, VGI could also include the contribution of individuals that, in their roles of civil servants, collect and share new data and geoinformation with the community. One could even consider public bodies as “users” participating in the same cooperative effort and contributing with information that, strictly speaking, does not relate with any of the formal administrative responsibilities of the organisation in particular, but to the intention of facilitating more detailed information and better services to the citizen.
Although in terms of sheer numbers the importance of these organizations and individuals might be negligible compared to the millions of users interacting with Virtual Globes, for an endless number of applications, the quality of the information is greater than the ordinary VGI.
In general, the VGI is based on simple structures. Having in mind the collection and updating of GI in collaboration between public organisations, which generally need more complex data structures, a more sophisticated infrastructure for sharing and harmonising geospatial data must be set up.
The paper presents some experiences in the framework of the Catalan SDI which show several techniques used to improve the collaboration between regional and local organizations and which clearly demonstrate the growing importance of this “public” type of voluntary tasks within the VGI paradigm and its benefits for the public administrations and citizens.
Authors
Maria Pla - Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya
Anna Lleopart - Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya
Jordi Guimet - Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya
