GI_Forum 2016, Volume 4, Issue 2, pp. 109-122, 2016/12/02
Journal for Geographic Information Science
Crowdsourcing and volunteered geographical information (VGI) have proven to be popular methods in many citizen science projects, but using the knowledge of the crowd in data mining of old maps is still rare. This paper presents the project “Stories of Places”, the aim of which is to collect spatial and subjective data about peaks based on a particular map of north Bohemia from 1927 using the author’s own web map application. The quality control of data is conducted by participants themselves: anyone involved in the project could validate the data. The results of the data collection are explored from statistical and spatial points of view as well as by the volunteers. Involved in the project were 19 participants from both inside and outside the region studied, proving that the public is able to analyse an old map. The results also showed differences in the way volunteers work, indicating that volunteers from the region are more suitable for collecting qualitative data. The results of the project from the perspective of the participants as well as the author are discussed in the conclusion.
Keywords: public participation, old maps, data mining, VGI, citizen science
