ASSESSING THE RELIABILITY OF CONTRIBUTORS IN VGI USING IMPLICIT FACTORS

Abstract. VGI projects include geographic information, which are the product of many unorganized volunteers, making it a challenge to ensure the quality of their information. In this field of study, several researchers have suggested using intrinsic factors to evaluate the quality of VGI instead of using explicit methods such as comparing with real or reference datasets. In addition, the measurement of the reliability of VGI contributors as an essential intrinsic factor in determining the credibility of their contributions remains an open question. Various types of contributors’ activities and interactions are introduced and discussed in detail in this study at first. Then a comprehensive spatio-temporal contributor reliability model is proposed to assess their performance based on multiple implicit interactions between volunteers in their contribution process. Finally, several cities with different contribution rate (based on their population, number of users and area extent) are chosen and the proposed model is applied to the VGI data of selected regions, finally the results are compared and discussed.