Demarcafé: a proposal to support the mapping of coffee areas using citizen science

Abstract

In agriculture, land use knowledge is very important for the analysis of agricultural, to estimate production and propose crop production forecast models, environmental monitoring and sustainable planning. Therefore, to coffee agribusiness the mapping of cultivated areas is essential. In the southern region of Minas Gerais, this mapping has been performed using geotechnologies. However, this strategy has some limitations resulting in maps of land use with classification errors. In this work, the proposed solution to minimize this problem is the combination of remote sensing with citizen science. For this purpose, a mobile application, named Demarcafé, has been developed. The Demarcafé allows citizens (non-researchers) to collaborate with this mapping. Hence, the technology assumes the role of facilitator of this connection. The Demarcafé has been evaluated and the results suggest that the tool can represent an important advance in this mapping.