Crowdsourcing more detailed information about local buildings in Ottawa

Statistics Canada, the national statistics agency, has turned to crowdsourcing in the hope of procuring more detailed information about local buildings in Ottawa.

Having previously partnered with OpenStreetMap for standard cartography of location and external characteristics of buildings, Andrew Duffy of the Ottawa Citizen tells us how the agency is now turning to members of the public to provide other information to help complete the overall picture. Examples of the type of information that they are hoping to obtain are its size and usage – whether residential or commercial.

While there is surface potential for an invasion of privacy in the collection of this information, the agency argues that it has the population’s best interests at heart. Results of the mapping and information gathering process could prove extremely valuable in the event of a natural disaster. Open source mapping has become an invaluable asset in regions like Haiti where social media can be used to spread location information to those in distress and to those looking for them.

The article can be read in full at ottawacitizen.com by clicking here.