Acquisition and Cartographic Applications of Subjective Geodata

Most geospatial applications provide services based on objective, physical parameters. However, humans interpret locations subjectively. By doing so, subjective spatial relations towards space are developed, which in turn, affect decision-making and behavior in space (e.g. fearful places are avoided, attractive places are explored). In other words, humans perceive and respond to their environment. Most geospatial applications however, rely on objective geospatial data to provide services and decision support to its users. This paper reports on results of a research project, which aims at acquiring people’s subjective relations to space, as well as at attaining usercentered services by incorporating subjective data into geospatial applications. We will discuss crowdsourcing as an effective approach to gather subjective relations to space, and introduce applications of subjective geospatial data.