VGI for protesters

Here is an interesting example of VGI. In support of protesters in Hong Kong, a small group of volunteers are making real-time maps showing locations for riot police and water cannons. By building on crowdsourcing, the map is updated quickly as the situation changes. Like many VGI projects, it sounds like a bit of mixed methods:

Out on the frontlines are “runners” dressed as regular passersby so as not to attract too much unwanted attention. Working with pen and paper on a clipboard, or through an illustrator app on an iPad, the runners mark up a blank map with the latest updates. The so-called “integrator” in the control room then assembles the updates, adding additional information from live-streams and news sources, to collate all available information at that moment into a single map, which is then published online and sent out via Telegram.

One of the technical barriers is that, with so many protesters gathered so densely, mobile phone data capacities can be poor. QUartz reports that the protesters at the edge of the crowds are being encouraged to download the latest map and then airdrop it for easy access by those in the middle.