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In developing countries, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) can be a valuable source of information, as often no detailed geo-data is available. Furthermore, it enables to aggregate local knowledge that can only be provided by local stakeholders. However, due to the complexity of tools and workflows of VGI applications, the participation within VGI projects is typically limited to technically skilled persons. We propose to focus on task-specific interfaces to integrate inexperienced user groups in the data collection process. For the example of micro-mapping we show how What-You-See-Is-What-You-Map (WYSIWYM) interfaces can lower the technological barriers compared to generic user interfaces and allow the contribution of precise geometric geographic data even for technologically uneducated persons. We report on two user studies in two different settings: the first study compares the general quantitative and qualitative aspects of user-generated data of three different geographic data collection tools, and the second study investigates the robustness of these results with a focus on the technological barrier with technologically untrained farmers in rural Laos. We are able to show that WYSIWYM interfaces foster the contribution of data of promising quality and at the same time significantly lower the barrier of usage. Thus, WYSIWYM is well suited to integrate contributors with limited technological knowledge into VGI processes and enables crowdsourcing geographic information at a local level.

Monitoring and evaluating progress and impact of development projects is a critical aspect. In this paper, we show how we can use a smartphone based system to intuitively retrieve the exact geometry of smaller objects, making it suitable to assess agricultural entities like fields or ponds with their exact extent and location. The system's simple and intuitive workflow can be used by laymen and thus allows for crowdsourcing geo-data on a local level.

Geographic information is increasingly contributed by volunteers via crowdsourcing platforms. However, most tools and methods require a high technical affinity of its users and a good understanding of geographic classification systems. These technological and educational barriers prevent casual users to contribute spatial data. In this chapter we present mapIT, a method to acquire and contribute complex geographic data. We further introduce the concept of micro-mapping, the acquisition of geometrically correct geometric data of small geographic entities. mapIT is a method for micro-mapping with smartphones with high geometric precision. We show that mapIT is highly accurate and able to reconstruct the geometry of mapped entities correctly.Please check and confirm the author names and initials are correct.

The general situation on geospatial information is one of fragmented data sets and sources, gaps in availability, lack of harmonization between data sets at different geographical scales, and duplication of information collections. Addressing these issues, providers of geospatial information in Europe have to deliver their contents relating to specifications emerging in for the context of INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe). Schema mapping plays a critical role in this process. We suggest an approach that supports the data translation procedure using Web Service technology. Efficient and sufficiently loosely coupled components for rule management and translation execution were designed and implemented. We present them in this paper. Our solution guarantees extensibility in mapping rule structure and of translation operators. We allow users to customize geospatial information and thus enable flexible information exchange. We suggest and compare two options of using the developed software.