New Trends in Geospatial Information:
The Land Surveyors Role in the Era of Crowdsourcing and VGI

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FOREWORD

The geographic data and knowledge collection and dissemination via authoritative professionals only – characterized as the top-down scheme – has been shifting in the past few years to the bottom-up scheme, in which citizens and laymen generate data they later use as information in various applications and services. This is a new era in the history of human mapping efforts, mainly in terms of data collection, but also for knowledge production.

This neogeography revolution is fundamentally transforming how geographic data are acquired, maintained, analyzed, visualized, and consequently – used. With today’s technology, availability, access and ease of use there is a potential of a geographer within everybody.

In view of these changes in the mapping and land surveying domain over the past few years, Commission 3 has undertaken the mission to prepare this publication within the framework of FIG, aiming to emphasize the accessibility, the potential, and the use of crowdsourcing and VGI as a basic tool for land surveyors and mappers professionals.

During the 2011–2014 and 2015–2018 periods, FIG Commission 3 has addressed this phenomenon of shifting from the top-down mapping scheme to the bottom-up one. Its particular focus has been on SIM Infrastructure, Technical Aspect of SIM, and on Crowdsourcing and VGI.

In this effort, FIG Commission 3 has established valuable collaborations in an effort to adopt a multi-sector approach, and bring together people with relevant expertise, such as academics, experts from the public sector as well as from the private sector, to share experience and knowledge on crowdsourcing and VGI. FIG Commission 3 cooperates closely with UN-agencies (UN ECE WPLA, and UN-HABITAT and GLTN), UNESCO, the World Bank, ISPRS and other sister associations.

This publication integrates the output of research studies done by Commission 3 working groups and resolutions from the past annual workshops (Paris 2011, Athens 2012, Skopje 2013, Bologna 2014, Malta 2015, Iasi 2016, Lisbon 2017 and Napoli 2018).  

Prof. Dr. Yerach Doytsher
Chair of FIG Commission 3, 2011–2014
Prof. Dr. Chryssy Potsiou
FIG President, 2015–2018
Dr. Enrico Rispoli
Chair of FIG Commission 3, 2015–2018