Collaborative mapping

Collaborative mapping

Collaborative mapping is the aggregation of web maps and user-generated content, from a group of individuals or entities, and can take several distinct forms.

Contents

Types

Collaborative Mapping applications vary depending on which feature the collaborative edition takes place: on the map itself (shared surface), or on overlays to the map. A very simple collaborative mapping application would just plot users' locations (Social mapping or geosocial networking) or Wikipedia articles' locations (Placeopedia). Collaborative implies the possibility of edition by several distinct individuals so the term would tend to exclude applications such as wayfaring where the maps are not meant for the general user to modify.

Shared surface

In this kind of application, the map itself is created collaboratively by sharing a common surface. For example WikiMapia adds user-generated place names and descriptions to locations. Collaborative mapping and specifically surface sharing faces the same problems as revision control, namely concurrent access issues and versioning. In addition to these problems, collaborative maps must deal with the difficult issue of cluttering, due to the geometric constraints inherent in the media. One approach to this problem is using overlays.

Overlays

Overlays group together items on a map, allowing the user of the map to toggle the overlay's visibility and thus all items contained in the overlay. The application uses map tiles from a third-party (for example one of the mapping APIs) and adds its own collaboratively-edited overlays to them, sometimes in a Wiki fashion. If each user's revisions are contained in an overlay, the issue of revision control and cluttering can be mitigated.

Commercial context

According to Edward Mac Gillavry there is a dichotomy between corporate projects and user-driven projects. With corporate initiatives generally using a one-way information flow from the service provider to the subscriber and user driven projects generally being characterized by a two way information flow.[1]

Several big internet companies launched mapping applications with collaborative features, most importantly Google Maps with the Google Map Maker feature. Although Google allows flexible mash up style use of their raster map images, the MapMaker system presents a one-way flow at the level of raw map data, from the community to Google (with the exception of some areas where special provision of shapefiles have been granted for humanitarian reasons). Contrast this with the similar non-corporate collaborative mapping system, OpenStreetMap, which allows all raw map data to be downloaded freely and openly via API requests or full "planet" download.

See also

References

  1. ^ Edward Mac Gillavry's paper on webmapper.net

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Collaborative learning — is a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together.[1] Unlike individual learning, people engaged in collaborative learning capitalize on one another’s resources and skills (asking one another for information …   Wikipedia

  • Collaborative learning-work — was a concept first presented by in the 1980s as part of his research on future trends and directions. Collaborative Learning Work refers to processes, methodologies and environments in which professionals engage in a common task, in which… …   Wikipedia

  • Collaborative Project Management — PSI 1 (auch PSI Recommendation 1 (CPM)) ist eine formale Projektmanagementmethode aus dem Bereich des kollaborativen Projektmanagements veröffentlicht vom ProStep iViP e.V. Um ein partnerübergreifendes Projektmanagement zu realisieren beachtet… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Collaborative projekt management — PSI 1 (auch PSI Recommendation 1 (CPM)) ist eine formale Projektmanagementmethode aus dem Bereich des kollaborativen Projektmanagements veröffentlicht vom ProStep iViP e.V. Um ein partnerübergreifendes Projektmanagement zu realisieren beachtet… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Web mapping — is the process of designing, implementing, generating and delivering maps on the World Wide Web and its product. While web mapping primarily deals with technological issues, web cartography additionally studies theoretic aspects: the use of web… …   Wikipedia

  • List of concept- and mind-mapping software — Concept mapping and mind mapping software are used to create diagrams of relationships between concepts, ideas or other pieces of information. It has been suggested that the mind mapping technique can improve learning/study efficiency up to 15%… …   Wikipedia

  • Network mapping — A visual representation of a part of the Internet. Network mapping is the study of the physical connectivity of networks. Internet mapping is the study of the physical connectivity of the Internet. Network mapping often attempts to determine the… …   Wikipedia

  • Models of collaborative tagging — Many have argued that social tagging or collaborative tagging systems can provide navigational cues or “way finders” [1][2] for other users to explore information. The notion is that, given that social tags are labels that users create to… …   Wikipedia

  • Mind mapping — Carte heuristique Une carte heuristique (mind map en anglais), également appelée carte des idées, carte conceptuelle, schema de pensée, carte mentale, arbre à idées ou topogramme, est un diagramme qui représente les connexions sémantiques entre… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer — (or FAME) is an astrometric satellite designed to determine with unprecedented accuracy the positions, distances, and motions of 40 million stars within our galactic neighborhood. It is a collaborative effort between the United States Naval… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”