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Is VGI participation? From vernal pools to video games

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Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between public participatory GIS (PPGIS) and volunteered geographic information (VGI). A brief review of the history of PPGIS reveals similarities between the two but also provides examples of how these two areas have developed in ways that cause the boundaries between them to be unclear at times. As evidence for advancing this conversation, 2 case studies are presented: volunteers mapping vernal pools and park design in Second Life. These case studies demonstrate both the intertwined nature of some aspects of VGI and PPGIS, while also showing some aspects of divergence.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was written with partial support from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (Project No. 84102). Great appreciation is also owed to Marcus Knowlton for his generous technical assistance with the illustrations. The cases studies would not have been possible without additional information and insight from the individuals leading the projects—particularly Brian Zarate, Tom Lowenhaupt and Rick Lathrop—and the volunteers who participated in them.

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  1. Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, Cook College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    David L. Tulloch

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  1. David L. Tulloch
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Correspondence to David L. Tulloch.

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Tulloch, D.L. Is VGI participation? From vernal pools to video games. GeoJournal 72, 161–171 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-008-9185-1

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