Mapping the surrounding environment by pupils. Case study: Primary school “Ismail Qemali” in Chair - Skopje

Cartography in primary schools in the Republic of North Macedonia is present as part of geography subject, for four years from sixth to ninth level, per two hours weekly. Program is limited only on usage of paper maps aimed for learning geospatial phenomena, without information for map making process.Step forward toward increasing the awareness for including mapping in practical part of curricula in geography and other related subjects, are the activities undertaken by the Geo-SEE Institute from Skopje, by giving practical lectures to pupils in Primary School “Ismail Qemali” in Chair municipality, for usage the digital cartography tools via GIS software.Training was designed to be used FOSS for GIS and open geospatial data by teachers and pupils. Field identification and collection of geospatial data based on ortho images and other base materials, as well usage of smart phones have been used as supplementary methodology for establishing geospatial database aimed for map compilation. Voluntary geographic information and crowd sourcing methodologies as opportunities for usage in teaching and learning process in primary schools not only for geography but for all subjects that intersects with geospatial information, were explained to attendees. Within very short period of one and half month, before pandemic on march 2020, pupils achieved to work with basic tools of QGIS software, as well to compile two maps, one geographical map of North Macedonia, and a map of neighbourhood “Topansko Pole (Fushë Topanë)” as city map of the settlement in which the primary school is located.

APPLICATION FOR MEASURING REPRESENTATIVE VARIABLES OF COLLECTIVE SPACE INTELLIGENCE

The scarcity of metrics for analysing the quality of Voluntary Geographic Information without direct comparisons with reference data makes it impossible to use this information in many areas of society. Especially in developing countries, where collaborative data can help fill the deficit of official data, studies on intrinsic parameters of quality become an alternative to conventional comparative methods for evaluating spatial data. A recurring parameter in related research is Collective Spatial Intelligence. Seeking to offer researchers on the subject a tool capable of measuring the Collective Spatial Intelligence in predefined areas, we developed a Python application that counts representative values of this intelligence in political-administrative limits. Considering that, in general, the quality of spatial data is inferred on these limits, research that seeks to explain the VGI quality without using official data as a reference can be facilitated.

Información Geográfica Voluntaria para la Detección de Impactos Socioambientales de la Actividad Petrolera en la Amazonía Ecuatoriana

En esta investigación se estudia la Información Geográfica Voluntaria (IGV) como herramienta para generar información geográfica independientemente de la profesión de los usuarios. Se identificaron áreas en las provincias de Orellana y Sucumbíos, en las que se realizan o se han realizado actividades petroleras, y se recorrió el denominado Toxic Tour de la Mano Negra de Chevron. Mediante el uso de la aplicación GeoODKCollect y la plataforma ONA se georreferenciaron elementos petroleros que ocasionan impactos socioambientales y riesgos para la salud de los habitantes en el noreste de la Amazonía ecuatoriana, en las provincias de Orellana y Sucumbíos. Se confirmó que la empresa Chevron – Texaco no ha ejecutado el proceso de remediación y los riesgos ambientales, sociales y de salud en la zona de estudio y sus alrededores continúan. Palbras clave: IGV, ONA, GeoODKCollect, Amazonía, Petróleo, Ecuador AbstractIn this research, Voluntary Geographic Information (VGI) is studied as a tool to generate geographic information regardless of the profession of the users. The so-called Toxic Tour de la Mano Negra de Chevronand petroleum associated gas faring sites were visited. With the use of the GeoODKCollect applicationand the ONA platform, the authors georeferenced factors associated to oil extractivism which causesocial and socioenvironmental impacts and health risks to the northeast of the Ecuadorian Amazon inhabitants, in the provinces of Orellana and Sucumbíos. It was identifed that the remediation process that the Chevron - Texaco Company has executed is insufcient and the environmental, social and health risks in the study area and its surroundings continue.Keywords: VGI, ONA, GeoODKCollect, Amazon, Oil, Ecuador

Geostatistics and Digital Social Networks—A Study of Tourism Dynamics in “Alta and University of Coimbra” (UNESCO world Heritage Site)

Spatial modeling in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) always involves choices. The existence of constraints, either of a financial nature or related to the specifics of the software itself, to the algorithms, the uncertainty and even the reliability of the data, the purposes and the applications of the studies, make this a kind of guiding compass for GIS analysts. Building on a previous exercise of data acquisition (check-ins) based on two Digital Social Networks (DSN—Facebook and Foursquare) and on the awareness of the use of voluntary geographic information generated by tourists sharing their topophilic ties through DSN, the present analysis aims to evaluate the contribution of modern techniques of spatial analysis applied to tourism in the “Alta and University of Coimbra” area. Concepts and procedural tasks related to density determination, cluster analysis and identification of patterns associated with regionalized variables have thus been implemented with the purpose of evaluating and comparing the results obtained through the application of two techniques of spatial analysis, Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) and Optimized Hot-Spot Analysis (OHSA) & Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) Interpolation.

DISEÑO DE ESTRATEGIAS DE CROWDSOURCING EN SISTEMAS DE INFORMACIÓN GEOGRÁFICA VOLUNTARIA

This work addresses voluntary geographic information (VGI) as an information system that facilitates organizations to achieve specific goals by outsourcing processes and activities to an online community. A definition of a voluntary geographic information system (VGIS) is proposed, identifying its core components (Project, Participants, Technology), then, crowdsourcing, the most relevant process for managing information within these type of systems, is analysed. We analyse several types of crowdsourcing models in the context of VGIS, and it is proposed a classification built around the different ways of organizing a community, which include different levels of participation according to the use of three processes: contributory, collaborative and participatory. Based on the study of the different typologies intrinsically linked to the existing levels of involvement and engagement, and the use of participants' cognitive skills, a continuum of participation is identified, presenting two opposite tendencies when designing VGI projects: crowd-based and community-driven, the latter with higher levels of collaboration or even co-creation. Based on the above, it is proposed a set of criteria for the design of the crowdsourcing strategy of a VGIS, as a roadmap that directs the project. This design and planning tool helps to characterize and define in a simple way the general requirements of the processes and activities of a VGIS that will be implemented through a crowdsourcing task, being the first step in the interdependent design of the project, participation and technological components. The design of subsequent strategies related to the other components of the system must be aligned and linked to the crowdsourcing strategy, and altogether will guide the development of tasks, functionalities and the specific technological tools of the system.http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIGeo2017.2017.6629