A gamified map application utilising crowdsourcing engaged citizens to refine the quality and accuracy of cadastral index map border markers

Abstract

Due to urban expansion, agriculture, and the long history of the cadastre in Finland, the cadastral index map has millions of border markers that have low spatial accuracy, incomplete feature properties or both. The low quality of the border markers creates issues, such as forest cutting machines cutting from the wrong side of the border. As it is unfeasible for the national mapping agency to remeasure all these border markers, crowdsourcing is seen as a solution. However, the task of locating and measuring border markers requires motivated citizens. Therefore, in this study, a gamified map-based artefact enabling citizens to refine the quality of border markers in the cadastral index map was created. The artefact was designed, developed, demonstrated, and evaluated following the design science research approach. This study demonstrated with high sample size that gamified crowdsourcing is viable for motivating citizens to perform even challenging tasks. Of the applied gamification affordances, progression, points, and leaderboard were the most motivating. It was also found that involving stakeholders early in the creation process and focusing on usability of the artefact resulted in a pleasing user experience for the citizens. The artefact even spun a self-organised mapping party during its demonstration.