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