1. Overview
   1. Area of Interest
      1. 4 Primary City and County of Denver Quads
         1. Englewood Commerce City Arvada Ft Logan
   2. Collaborators
      1. GIS Clubs/Students in Denver as primary target
   3. Structures - 28 USGS Core Structures List *The structures list is currently dynamic
      1. Shopping Mall / Complex School College / University Fire Station / EMS Station Law Enforcement Prison / Correctional Facility State Capitol Court House City / Town Hall Hospital / Medical Center Post Office Amusement / Water Park Auditorium / Concert Hall / Theater / Opera House Campground Cemetery Convention Center Fair / Exhibition / Rodeo Grounds Historic Site / Point of Interest House of Worship Ice Arena Library Lighthouse / Light Museum National Symbol / Monument Outdoor Theater / Amphitheater Racetrack / Dragstrip Sports Arena / Stadium Zoo
   4. Building on the foundation laid by the OSMCP, The VGI group will be starting a new project to collect structures data in the City and County of Denver. We will be soliciting volunteers from GIS Clubs in Denver for this project and work with them to collect 28 different Community Anchor Points. The data from this project will end up in The National Map and therefore provide a real world learning opportunity for local students to collaborate with the USGS. The Structures VGI project will employ the same OSM Stack used for the OSMCP and collect data to specifications necessary for use in The National Map. This project will focus on a quality process to ensure the data is certified to our standards. We will track costs and benefits by comparing traditional collection methods to a VGI method. and provide meaningful data to TNM that has been directly contributed by volunteers.
2. Goals
   1. Create a high impact project to display benefits of VGI/Crowdsourcing to the Leadership Team
   2. Provide udable strucutues data to TNM
   3. Work with Volunteers
   4. Document costs and rewards
   5. Create an alternative work flow that could potentially be operalizationized in the future
   6. Create project report that's publishable (OFR)
   7. Create project presentation and use it for outreach and education
   8. Once software and data are in place, the project timeline with be 3 months
3. Project Components
   1. Organization and Implementation
      1. Staff
         1. *Greg Matthews
         2. Eric Wolf
         3. Kevin McNinch
      2. Tasks
         1. Develop project outline
         2. Find staff to manage project components
         3. Outreach to partners
         4. Meekly and monthly meetings
   2. Project Sponsorship
      1. Staff
         1. Kari Craun
         2. Larry Moore
         3. Phyllis Altide?
   3. Research
      1. Staff
         1. *Barbara Poore
         2. Eric Wolf
         3. Holly Caro
      2. Tasks
         1. Look at "sense of community"
         2. Look at implementing a rewards structure
         3. Look at accuracy issues
   4. Cost-Benefit Analysis
      1. Staff
         1. *Jennifer Walter
         2. Greg Matthews
         3. Erin Korris
      2. Tasks
         1. Determine relevant costs associated with VGI Structures compared to USGS historic costs
            1. COSTS - will be primarily based on labor hours (edit, QC, training) and overhead costs (travel, hardware, training materials). Depending on the availibility of historic information, the following 3 "cases" could be quantified:
            2. Case 1 - USGS Collection AND QC (Base Case - USGS w/o partner); if available. Otherwise extrapolate estimates for Denver quads from existing data for other states.
            3. Case 2 - USGS Partner Collection AND USGS QC (Base Case - USGS w/partner); if available. Otherwise extrapolate estimates for Denver quads from existing data for other states.
            4. Case 3 - USGS Volunteer (student) Collection/QC AND USGS QC (VGI Case). Costs (labor hours) self reported by student volunteers and USGS. Potentially tracked in an excel spreadsheet.
            5. BENEFITS - are quantified as the difference between the "VGI Case" and the "Base Case" (USGS historic costs, with or without partner data, whatever are available).
            6. Net Costs/Net Benefits will be estimated by taking the total VGI Costs (labor and overhead) and subtracting the total "Base Case" (historic) costs.
            7. A positive value indicates a net benefit, or cost savings, to the USGS for implementing the VGI approach over the "Base Case" or historical USGS approach.
            8. A negative value indicates a net cost, or additional costs to the USGS for implementing the VGI approach compared to the Base Case" or historical USGS approach
            9. SCALE -
            10. Geographic Scale: 4 quads in Denver
            11. Temporal Scale: To Be Determined. Either a 1 time event (the 4 quads in denver) OR 5 year projection based on estimates derived for the 4 quads in Denver.
            12. Rationale for using a 5 year time frame is that it provides a longer period over which to absorb the overhead costs and provides a more realistic estimate of long-term benefits/costs to the USGS.
            13. DATA COLLECTION METHOD - Field (hand-held GPS) vs Office (review of aerial photography)? Need to be consistent in the methods used for each of the "cases", so analysis compares "apples to apples"
         2. Create metric of data quality so that costs and benefits can be compared to a quantitative measure of the quality of the data produced.
            1. Exploring the feasibility of an "error frequency" statistic. For example, % of all records changed during QC (spatial changes, attribute changes or both), quantified using FME change detection tool. Results can be exported into excel and pasted into cost-benefit analysis quantification spreadsheet.
            2. Matthews suggested adding a field called "Status" attribute to the database that is populated for each structure during edit/QC. This would allow for the data to be queried by the FME tool, based on the stage in the workflow (collected, QC'd by volunteers, QC'd by USGS).
         3. Create a meaningful baseline of data that can be added to by ongoing VGI projects
            1. This does not belong in cost/benefit analysis? (it is the end product of the exercise . . )
   5. Outreach and Facilitation
      1. Staff
         1. *Erin Korris
         2. Jennifer Walter
         3. Greg Matthews
      2. Tasks
         1. Develop basic training materials
         2. Process Documentation
            1. Track by census tract in an excel spreadsheet. Editors/QC'ers manually record own estimate of time (hrs). Hours information will be used in the cost-benefit analysis.
         3. Site Visits
         4. Progress Tracking
         5. Develop Certificate of Participation
         6. Create certificate of participation
            1. Depending on types of volunteer opportunities created, this could be specific to each type
         7. Develop internship/in-office volunteer opportunities
            1. Obstacle: Federal security clearance
            2. Internships could be developed with local universities
            3. Example: Experiential Learning Center at UC Denver; set up 1-3 credit hour unpaid internships
            4. In-office student volunteers
            5. Could receive certificate for completing a specified number of volunteer hours
            6. Independent Study credit
            7. Example: The UC Denver GIS certificate requires a 1 credit hour independent study
         8. Develop progress tracking procedures
            1. Include which features have been completed, # of features completed, and hours
            2. Document should be filled out by volunteers
         9. Contact local schools, clubs, and GIS organizations
            1. Research current GIS related organizations in Denver area
            2. Create presentation materials about project
            3. Site visits to inform groups about the project and to train volunteers
            4. Possibly create group events (point collection?) similar to OSM, with local GIS clubs and student groups
         10. Develop Training Materials
             1. Build off of process documentation and the Guidelines for Contributing Structures Data to the National Map
             2. Include introductory material to OSM model and crowdsourcing
             3. Potential Training Needs:
             4. VGI Project and NSD presentation
             5. GPS Point collection
             6. Potlatch interface training
             7. ArcGIS QC process
             8. Progress tracking
         11. Create Process Documentation
             1. Should include point collection, editing, and QC
             2. Include a version of the document Guidelines for Contributing Structures Data to the National Map
         12. VGI Structures Project Outreach
             1. Create Process Documentation
             2. Should include point collection, editing, and QC
             3. Include a version of the document Guidelines for Contributing Structures Data to the National Map
             4. Develop Training Materials
             5. Build off of process documentation and the Guidelines for Contributing Structures Data to the National Map
             6. Include introductory material to OSM model and crowdsourcing
             7. Potential Training Needs:
             8. VGI Project and NSD presentation
             9. GPS Point collection
             10. Potlatch interface training
             11. ArcGIS QC process
             12. Progress tracking
             13. Contact local schools, clubs, and GIS organizations
             14. Research current GIS related organizations in Denver area
             15. Create presentation materials about project
             16. Site visits to inform groups about the project and to train volunteers
             17. Possibly create group events (point collection?) similar to OSM, with local GIS clubs and student groups
             18. Develop progress tracking procedures
             19. Include which features have been completed, # of features completed, and hours
             20. Document should be filled out by volunteers
             21. Develop internship/in-office volunteer opportunities
             22. Obstacle: Federal security clearance
             23. Internships could be developed with local universities
             24. Example: Experiential Learning Center at UC Denver; set up 1-3 credit hour unpaid internships
             25. In-office student volunteers
             26. Could receive certificate for completing a specified number of volunteer hours
             27. Independent Study credit
             28. Example: The UC Denver GIS certificate requires a 1 credit hour independent study
             29. Create certificate of participation
             30. Depending on types of volunteer opportunities created, this could be specific to each type
   6. Quality
      1. Staff
         1. *Erin Korris
         2. Jennifer Walter
         3. Greg Matthews
         4. Austin Green
      2. Tasks
         1. Develop QA/QC Procedures
         2. Develop Process Documentation
         3. Develop Process for Volunteers to QC volunteer data
            1. This can be a student volunteer that Chuck Matthys will be bringing in to do work. They will have prior security clearance so that they can work with USGS staff on site.
         4. Develop process to QC Structures in ArcGIS
            1. Austin and Greg will develop this
   7. Software
      1. Staff
         1. *Eric Wolf
         2. Kevin McNinch
         3. Greg Matthews
      2. Tasks
         1. Finish Potlatch 2 Structures Interface
         2. Develop user community login
         3. Create ability to tag Structures with a provisional tag and a certified tag
         4. Create views of data based on provisional and certified tag
         5. Create meaningful grid structure so that a team of volunteers can have responsibility for areas
            1. Possibly quad based
   8. Data
      1. Staff
         1. *Kevin McNinch
         2. Eric Wolf
         3. Austin Green
         4. Greg Matthews
      2. Tasks
         1. Get the final data out of PostgreSQL and into the GAZ/Vector DB
         2. Ensure this data will be used in TNM and all mapping products
         3. Develop FME tools to get data export Structures data from PostgreSQL to GeoDB
         4. Submit this data to MapQuest and/or OSM
   9. Scale
      1. Staff
         1. Corey Dakin
         2. Eric Wolf
         3. Kevin McNinch
         4. Greg Matthews
      2. Tasks
         1. Possible 2nd phase - Denver County Quads
         2. Submit data to MapQuest and OSM
         3. Work with additional volunteers via OSM meetup groups
         4. Ongoing work on the GeoCloud (Corey)
   10. Communication Plan
       1. Staff
          1. Eric Wolf
          2. Barbara Poore
       2. Tasks
          1. Weekly and monthly meeting will be held for appropriate staff
          2. a project portal web page will be built to help manage the project and for communications
          3. An open file report will be created as the projects wraps up
          4. presentations will need to be created and given to inform our peers and the public