Keeping the BGT up-to-date: Volunteered geographic information, a serious option?

Abstract

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) is often suggested by academics for governments to keep their geo-information better up-to-date. But in contrast to corporate and open VGI platforms, mature governmental VGI platforms are generally lacking. This research investigates if VGI could be a successful option to keep a Dutch topographical dataset, the Basisregistratie Grootschalige Topografie (BGT), up-to-date. The focus of this research is on the social sides of VGI: are governments willing to adopt VGI and are there volunteers willing to deliver this data and why (not)? Surveys among both groups showed that VGI is a very viable option. Both groups were positive about the usefulness of crowdsourcing. The volunteers showed that they are mostly intrinsically motivated to contribute, due to altruism, learning, self need and especially fun and local knowledge. Extrinsic motivations were less strongly found. Both results are in line with previous VGI research about contributor’s motivations. In contrast to indications from literature, governments were positive about crowdsourcing. There were some reservations, such as doubt about the VGI quality, the revenues and the amount of volunteers, but these were less strongly present than expected. The prevailing image about governments seemed to be too pessimistic and a successful adoption of VGI is certainly feasible on a short term.