VGDI - Advancing the Concept: Volunteered Geo-Dynamic Information and its Benefits for Population Dynamics Modeling

Abstract

The concept of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has progressed from being an exotic prospect to making a profound impact on GIScience and geography in general, as initially anticipated. However, while massive and manifold data is continuously produced voluntarily and applications are built for information and knowledge extraction, the initially introduced concept of VGI lacks certain methodological perspectives in this regard which have not been fully elaborated. In this article we highlight and discuss an important gap in this concept, i.e. the lack of formal acknowledgment of temporal aspects. By coining the proposed advanced framework 'Volunteered Geo-Dynamic Information' (VGDI), we attempt to lay the ground for full conceptual and applied spatio-temporal integration. To illustrate that integrative approach of VGDI and its benefits, we describe the potential impact on the field of dynamic population distribution modeling. While traditional approaches in that domain rely on survey-based data and statistics as well as static geographic information, the use of VGDI enables a dynamic setup. Foursquare venue and user check-in data are presented for a test site in Lisbon, Portugal. Two core modules of spatio-temporal population assessment are thereby addressed, namely time use profiling and target zone characterization, motivated by the potential integration in existing population dynamics frameworks such as the DynaPop model.