Larissa BÖHRKIRCHER, RWTH Aachen University - Physical Geography and Climatology, Germany
Stefan HERLÉ, RWTH Aachen University - Geodetic Institute and Chair of Construction Informatics & Geoinformation Systems, Germany
Gunnar KETZLER, RWTH Aachen University - Physical Geography and Climatology, Germany
Thomas LEMMERZ, RWTH Aachen University - Geodetic Institute and Chair of Construction Informatics & Geoinformation Systems, Germany
Carmella PFAFFENBACH, RWTH Aachen University - Cultural Geography, Germany
Jörg BLANKENBACH, RWTH Aachen University - Geodetic Institute and Chair of Construction Informatics & Geoinformation Systems, Germany
Michael LEUCHNER, RWTH Aachen University - Physical Geography and Climatology, Germany
The wide distribution of smartphones and the increasing emergence of citizen science offer the potential of closer collaboration of science and population for greater participation in the society on the one side and citizens as “human sensors” on the other. Yet, there is an information transfer gap between science and population concerning especially fuzzy information with distinct geolocation. The OpenGeoResearch project raises the potential to bridge this gap, by offering a communication platform to collect spatially related questions and give feedback, but also to identify information on research gaps. In order to evaluate this communicative interaction, a direct connection between pilot user groups and experts is initiated. In the app, participants can post their georeferenced observations and questions and can clarify them through images, videos or voice recordings. The questions are then answered by community members, students and scientists of the respective fields. Questions to which no answers are found indicate scientific research gaps and can contribute to the formation of future research questions. To make the answering process efficient, the questions can be assigned tags that allow respondents to filter the questions according to their area of expertise. In addition, OpenGeoResearch includes the possibility to create individual tags that can be used to collect project-related data sets - all combined in one app. Thereby, the OpenGeoResearch project could contribute to a new way of geographic data collection and assessment. It can be used as a supplement to conventional data generation methods, like time-consuming people surveys, and incorporate local knowledge. The project is part of the German Year of Science 2022 ("Wissenschaftsjahr 2022 – Nachgefragt!"), first results are expected in the course of the year.
Keywords: Citizen Science|Public Participation|Geoinformation Systems|Civic Technology|Participatory Sensing
A104457LB