Volunteered Geographic Information

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) is the use of the Web to create, assemble, and disseminate geographic information provided voluntarily by individuals (Goodchild, 2007). Some examples of this phenomenon are Wikimapia, OpenStreetMap, and Google Earth. These sites provide general base map information and allow users to create their own content by marking locations where various events occurred or certain features exist, but aren’t already shown on the base map. VGI is a special case of the larger Web phenomenon known as user-generated content.

Goodchild, M. 2007. Citizens as Sensors: The World of Volunteered Geography. P. 1.