Nestoria Blog

With this year’s State of the Map conference rapidly approaching, for this month’s Nestoria Interview we once again turn our attention to rapidly growing community mapping project OpenStreetMap (OSM).

Specifically we have the pleasure of interviewing Christopher J. Parker, who will be speaking at this year’s SOTM.

Currently studying a PhD in human interaction at Loughborough University, focusing on the phenomenon of “Volunteered Geographic Information” (VGI). In July 2009, he will be presenting his current findings on “Value and How it Changes Everything” at State of the Map 2009.

Christopher, thanks for talking with us.

1. Please tell us about your current work related to OSM.

As said in my bio, I am researching Volunteered Geographic Information from a human factors point of view. Broadly speaking, this is where people share their information (photos, videos, locations etc) with the world by uploading it to the web and adding a geotag. The output from this can be as simple as displaying where everyone’s photos were taken on a map (as with sites such as Panorama and Flickr), or the map itself (as with OpenStreetMap) where the volunteered information is the collection of ‘nodes’ and polylines which make up the map you see. As anyone who follows social media will know, the idea of this is very recent, with the term VGI only being coined in 2007 by Prof. Michael Goodchild in 2007 (Citizens as Sensors: The world of Volunteered Geography).

So what does this mean? There are a lot of questions are floating around at the moment to do with how we perceive this Volunteered Information. Aside from the technical quality (a very contentious issue), how do we as users perceive volunteered information differently from professional information. How and why do we value a volunteered source higher than a technically more complete professional source of higher quality. What is even more interesting is the idea of an emotional interface (Roush, 2007, Second Earth. Technology Review. 2007. July/ August. P39-48) where the geospatial element (the map the data is overlaid onto) is just a medium through which to explorer the emotions generated by content such as holiday photos.

2. What made you think this was an interesting topic? And what has the response from the OSM community been?

When I started my PhD at Loughborough I was asked to research anything I could link to the human factors of travel. After reading around the subject, the idea of people using GPS devices to ‘map’ their environment kept cropping up time and time again. I wanted to find a topic that was pretty sparse in research to date, was cutting edge and had allot of potential to move forward. The topic of Volunteered Geographic Information was probably the best find from this period as (at the time) it was only just over a year old in definition and all the research seemed to be either from a GIS technical slant or that of future speculation. I have always had an interest in technology with my background in product design, so reading about how this technology could potentially revolutionise the perception of our environment really got a fire lit under me. I suppose what sold it to me though was the lack of human factors research. One can see a new technology in many ways, but unless one understands why we perceive it the way we do, or why it diffuses the way it does, then it is hard to fully utilise it. I wanted to be able to provide that academic background that would give guidelines to developers and users so their products and services using this volunteered information would actually mean something to the consumers.

To date, the reaction from the OSM community I have been studying has been very positive. At the end of my interviews I always ask if they have any questions, and invariably it is “what have you found in your research”, followed by at least ten minutes of me explaining the findings of user value to date. I think possibly because those involved in OSM tend to be flying the flag for Open Source software the people I speak to are very happy to share their ideas and thoughts with the world.

3. It’s often said that only 1% of internet users are content creators, the rest are content consumers. Does your research support this theory, or do you think more and more users will become content creators as familiarity grows and tools become better?

Whether this statement is true or not is beyond my scope of research. Certainly there have been studies into this which show the producers in the traditional sense are outweighed by the consumers. However the maths seems to make perfect sense in that if you look at Second Life, which as of now (16:00, 17/06/2009, Second Life interface) has had 1,400,042 active users in the last 60 days. If only 1% of users produce content (in this case 3D objects) then you have 14,000 developers producing an interactive virtual world while receiving no income from Linden Lab who run the project. Now, how much of that is true is not for me to say, but even a 0.5% developer community would still be a very large contributor base.

I suppose the problem with this analogy is that it is based on the traditional view of the contributor as one who uses a relatively high degree of technical knowledge to produce something the average person either doesn’t want to or doesn’t know how; as in the case of Second Life objects. But here is the spanner in the works, what does content mean? I suppose this could be a whole area of research in itself, but one of the most exciting developments of the last few years has been the idea of putting a GPS tracker in your mobile devices. With user friendly software a child could upload their journey path from their phone to a map system, which in turn could work out the road network. Take a photograph of anything in the world, upload it to a site such as Flickr and the GPS tag that goes with it could place it on a map for anyone to explore. All of this is content in the VGI sense, where as Clay Shirky stated in his recent talk at TED (May 2009) “every time a new consumer joins this media landscape a new joins as well because the same equipment, phone, computers lets you consume and produce”. If we just geotag our information, potentially any information, it is VGI.

4. Do you think your research findings will be applicable to all user generated content services (things like YouTube and Facebook)?

At this stage of my research I honestly do not know. My focus is at the moment on users either creating maps or creating locations such as coffee shops or other amenities on maps. Even to ask what I have found out in this area and how it applies to other forms of map mashups would be too presumptuous. However, certain trends are starting to emerge which suggest the user perception of volunteer generated maps is not quite what we would have thought when we first looked at it. My presentation at State of the Map 2009 (which will also be on my research blog) should be the unveiling of my first analysis of this data.

I think it is highly unlikely that users would view the volunteered content of a map generated with the help of a GPS device as the same as the video posted on YouTube by the disgruntled employee of some Multinational Organisation. Yet at the same time both forms of media have similar traits in the form of geo-tagging the information, openness and volunteer generated, so I would imagine there may be some similarities.

5. Based on your research what advice do you have for start-ups like Nestoria who are keen to benefit from the technological advancements and enthusiasm of the OSM community?

Ultimately, I feel it is a little early to provide any concrete advice from my research as it is still early days and the direction and scope of my findings may change dramatically over the next couple of years. That said, there are a few pieces of research which may prove very relevant.

Firstly I would say embrace the OSM community, but also look outside. There are probably more social networks existing than you can name, and they never stay the same in their constant and rapid evolution. I’m sure everyone can remember the first time they heard that strange word ‘Google’ uttered while they searched the information superhighway with the worlds #1 search engine of the day: Yahoo!

Thanks Christopher. We look forward to learning more at SOTM. For those interested, you can follow Christopher’s research on his blog and on twitter @Kyral210.

If this interview has whetted your appetite for all things SOTM you may be interest in our coverage of SOTM 2008.

past Nestoria interviews: Ryan Notz, Lance Johnson, and Peter Le Masurier.

Fellow Nestoraks,

In sum, innovation in the online geography sector is alive and well!

This month we once again dive into the London start-up scene with an interview of Ryan Notz, founder and CEO of MyBuilder.com, a site to help homeowners find and instruct builders. Prior to founding MyBuilder, Ryan worked as a stonemason, roofer, teacher and artist.

Ryan, thanks for chatting with us!

1. Tell us about MyBuilder. What problem does the service solve?

It solves two problems really: the difficulty homeowners have in finding good builders; and the problems builders have in getting the right kind of work, when they need it. I was going through a dry spell with my stonemasonry, while trying to support my wife and two kids. That kind of pressure led to a lot of frustration, and I recognised a real problem in the industry. But for some reason, rather than seeking more security in a job, I went the other direction and started a web business. There must have been something wrong with my head… Anyway, the idea was to create a website where builders could create a profile that describes their skills and experience - and most importantly, have feedback history from homeowners who have hired them through the site. Homeowners in turn would be able to choose who to hire by comparing all this information, knowing that after their project is done, they can add to the builder’s reputation in a positive or negative way. There is an element of accountability with a system like that which I really liked.

2. Recently it seems all the hype is about pure online start-ups like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace. Your business goes in the other direction, it’s very much a tool for simplifying offline transactions. What are some of the challenges to introducing new ways of working to offline trades.

That’s an interesting question. I very much think of MyBuilder as a technology company, though I can see how someone else could take a different view. We are trying to solve a real world problem, that’s for sure. Bricks and mortar make up the real world, but so do people - and this is the most important element. We’re trying to help bring people together who want to interact with each other, through a fantastic communication tool: the web. Facebook and Twitter are no different, actually. In terms of convincing builders that they should be looking online to find work, I don’t think that’s our job. We provide a tool for those who want to use it, and if it’s useful enough, that side of things takes care of itself. We’ve seen people learning how to use the web for the first time because they’ve been told they can get work through MyBuilder.com. The need to earn a living is so powerful, you can’t imagine what some people will do. And I can really relate to that.

3. Again and again I hear people talk about how much easier life is for start-ups in the US. Yet, you, an American, chose to start your business here in the UK. Why? And how have you found the business atmosphere versus the US?

Well, to be fair, I was already living here when I started the business. My wife is English and my kids were all born here. But I could have easily moved to California or Austin, and my wife would happily have gone along. We even lived in Philadelphia for a while after having our first child. I guess I just fell in love with Britain and saw the need for MyBuilder here. It is a problem that is particularly acute in the UK. The business climate has certainly worked for me, I have no complaints. More importantly perhaps, was my decision to move from Bristol to London. I love Bristol, but that made all the difference. From fund-raising to building a team to meeting with potential partners, it’s so much easier in London. I think of other tech hotspots like Silicon Valley in the same way: the critical mass of people just makes it easier.

4. MyBuilder has wracked up some impressive awards and great press coverage. What’s the secret? What advice do you have for others contemplating starting their own business - especially those folks looking to bring new technology to bear on traditional industries?

I’m tempted to say that there’s no special sauce. But maybe there is, and it’s just a combination of things. For me, it started by addressing a real problem and having a desire to make the world a better place. It may sound cheesy, but I think that’s important. It’s also about what you want to do with your life and finding a path that’s fulfilling. If starting a business becomes the right thing to do, then you have to do it and rise to the challenge. It’s certainly not easy. It takes a lot of courage and persistence and hard work. You give a lot of blood, sweat and tears along the way. If you’re not doing the right thing for yourself, you won’t last. If you are doing the right thing, people around you will recognise that.

Ryan, thanks for the revealing chat. I can confirm that starting a company takes persistence and hard work. As we like to say, it’s a roller coaster - hang on and enjoy the ride. Keep up the great work!

For any readers out there thinking about having some work done, check out MyBuilder.com

past Nestoria interviews: Lance Johnson, Peter Le Masurier, Henry Yates.