Volunteered Geographic Information: Properties & Challenges

Recent improvements in information technologies such as web mapping and location-aware mobile devices have facilitated non-experts to aggregate, share and edit spatial data in a progressively accessible way. Thus, unlike the traditional spatial data productionprocess, data can be generated by each user. This phenomenon as VolunteeredGeographic Information (VGI) was introduced for the first time in 2007, by Goodchild. VGI has significant impacts on geospatial data production and sharing as individuals can act as both data producers and users. Despite the benefits and special characteristics, the richness and complexity of volunteered geographic information makes its usage challenging. This paper addresses the main properties and challenges of the volunteeredgeographic environment based on the literatures.