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A platform for crowdsourcing the creation of representative, accurate landcover maps

Publication ,  Journal Article
Estes, LD; McRitchie, D; Choi, J; Debats, S; Evans, T; Guthe, W; Luo, D; Ragazzo, G; Zempleni, R; Caylor, KK
Published in: Environmental Modelling and Software
June 1, 2016

Accurate landcover maps are fundamental to understanding socio-economic and environmental patterns and processes, but existing datasets contain substantial errors. Crowdsourcing map creation may substantially improve accuracy, particularly for discrete cover types, but the quality and representativeness of crowdsourced data is hard to verify. We present an open-sourced platform, DIYlandcover, that serves representative samples of high resolution imagery to an online job market, where workers delineate individual landcover features of interest. Worker mapping skill is frequently assessed, providing estimates of overall map accuracy and a basis for performance-based payments. A trial of DIYlandcover showed that novice workers delineated South African cropland with 91% accuracy, exceeding the accuracy of current generation global landcover products, while capturing important geometric data. A scaling-up assessment suggests the possibility of developing an Africa-wide vector-based dataset of croplands for $2-3 million within 1.2-3.8 years. DIYlandcover can be readily adapted to map other discrete cover types.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Environmental Modelling and Software

DOI

ISSN

1364-8152

Publication Date

June 1, 2016

Volume

80

Start / End Page

41 / 53

Related Subject Headings

  • Environmental Engineering
 

Citation

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Estes, L. D., McRitchie, D., Choi, J., Debats, S., Evans, T., Guthe, W., … Caylor, K. K. (2016). A platform for crowdsourcing the creation of representative, accurate landcover maps. Environmental Modelling and Software, 80, 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2016.01.011
Estes, L. D., D. McRitchie, J. Choi, S. Debats, T. Evans, W. Guthe, D. Luo, G. Ragazzo, R. Zempleni, and K. K. Caylor. “A platform for crowdsourcing the creation of representative, accurate landcover maps.” Environmental Modelling and Software 80 (June 1, 2016): 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2016.01.011.
Estes LD, McRitchie D, Choi J, Debats S, Evans T, Guthe W, et al. A platform for crowdsourcing the creation of representative, accurate landcover maps. Environmental Modelling and Software. 2016 Jun 1;80:41–53.
Estes, L. D., et al. “A platform for crowdsourcing the creation of representative, accurate landcover maps.” Environmental Modelling and Software, vol. 80, June 2016, pp. 41–53. Scopus, doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2016.01.011.
Estes LD, McRitchie D, Choi J, Debats S, Evans T, Guthe W, Luo D, Ragazzo G, Zempleni R, Caylor KK. A platform for crowdsourcing the creation of representative, accurate landcover maps. Environmental Modelling and Software. 2016 Jun 1;80:41–53.
Journal cover image

Published In

Environmental Modelling and Software

DOI

ISSN

1364-8152

Publication Date

June 1, 2016

Volume

80

Start / End Page

41 / 53

Related Subject Headings

  • Environmental Engineering