Some interesting news out of the USGS as the org is adopting an OpenStreetMap (OSM) style for updates and is turning to you, the crowd, to help update the National Map.
Details of a crowd-sourcing effort is being touted by the USGS and partners in the National Map. Imagine this, you get to help out with the National Map, you add/edit features, participate as a member of a growing community of volunteers, share in game-like tasks, and even adopt a quadrangle of your very own!
The agency is looking for crowd participants to help enhance the National Map and currently has some 18 States open for data editing, updates, and new features. Participants will become part of the National Map Corps. Collaborative pilot projects in Colorado were recently used to test the concept of crowd-sourcing. Over a trial period of ten months, 143 volunteers collected, improved, or deleted data on more than 6,400 structures in Colorado. The states in the first expansion of TNMC are: Arkansas, Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, West Virginia.
About the National Map Corps
The National Map Corps is a volunteer program that allows citizens to get involved with creating and updating geographic data for The National Map. For more information on the history of this program, please see the USGS factsheet, Volunteer Map Data Collection at the USGS.
Structures that the community are asked to help add to the map include: schools, fire stations and police facilities, hospitals, cemeteries, and post offices.
The Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) community represents a fantastic, untapped resource to assist USGS in maintaining data that are part of The National Map.
Continue reading more on this – Crowd-Sourcing the Nation: Using Volunteers for Enhanced Data Collection
Note: For a little fun and excitement, the program also provides the ability for users to adopt a quad! Adopt-a-Quad volunteers will check the data to make sure it is accurate. All it takes is internet access and a few hours of your time. You would be choosing a quadrangle, or multiple quadrangles (in any of the available states show above), to take responsibility for checking volunteer-edited points within that geographic area. See more on the official adopt a quad map app and see more on how to adopt a quad HERE
According to the USGS, volunteers / users can expect more game-like features coming soon. These may include such additions as points for submissions, user levels (think foursquare-like mayors) and added social media integration and even shout-outs to "super users" who achieve milestones! Sounds fun…
Source: my.usgs.gov via Glenn on Pinterest
See more information on the effort on the home of the National Map Corps
The online map editor – http://navigator.er.usgs.gov/
Related weblinks:
- Create an account to access the online map editor.
- Learn how to contribute and see editing guidelines
- The National Map and The National Structures Dataset
- Video, overview of the NAtional Map Corps