The willingness of volunteers to report changes on topographic maps

Various possibilities for collecting volunteer-provided geographical information in geodesy make it possible to engage volunteers for different purposes. In this paper, a study of the willingness of volunteers to report changes on topographic maps based on an online survey is presented. The survey was answered by 653 Slovenian respondents who use various online or classic topographic maps in their free time or at work and are willing to report their knowledge of changes in space or errors in maps to the map-updating institution. The survey's main finding is that 56% of respondents would use any online application to report changes on maps, 38% of respondents would prefer to report changes via email, and only 4% of respondents would prefer to report changes by phone. We also analysed the potential use of different functionalities of a web application for collecting changes and found that the most important functionalities for volunteers are those that give the most in-depth feedback (i.e., that a contribution has been submitted, that it is being verified, that it has been considered, that it has been deleted). The willingness of potential volunteers to use the various proposed functionalities also frequently depends on their current involvement with social networking sites or in volunteer associations and on their age group.