Crowdsourcing Methods for Data Collection in Geophysics: State of the Art, Issues, and Future Directions

TLDR

Geophysical research relies on data to model and manage complex systems, but limited data availability—exacerbated by climate change and urbanization—has driven the rise of low‑cost crowdsourcing approaches that can enhance spatial and temporal resolution. This study reviews 162 papers across seven geophysical domains to assess the state of the art in crowdsourcing methods, identify common issues, and propose future directions. The authors conduct a systematic review of 162 papers on crowdsourcing in seven geophysical domains and introduce a new framework for categorizing these methods, while also reviewing 93 papers on common issues such as project management, data quality, processing, and privacy. The review reveals that while crowdsourcing methods are increasingly applied, significant challenges remain in project management, data quality, processing, and privacy, and the authors outline specific future research directions to address these gaps.

Abstract

Abstract Data are essential in all areas of geophysics. They are used to better understand and manage systems, either directly or via models. Given the complexity and spatiotemporal variability of geophysical systems (e.g., precipitation), a lack of sufficient data is a perennial problem, which is exacerbated by various drivers, such as climate change and urbanization. In recent years, crowdsourcing has become increasingly prominent as a means of supplementing data obtained from more traditional sources, particularly due to its relatively low implementation cost and ability to increase the spatial and/or temporal resolution of data significantly. Given the proliferation of different crowdsourcing methods in geophysics and the promise they have shown, it is timely to assess the state of the art in this field, to identify potential issues and map out a way forward. In this paper, crowdsourcing‐based data acquisition methods that have been used in seven domains of geophysics, including weather, precipitation, air pollution, geography, ecology, surface water, and natural hazard management, are discussed based on a review of 162 papers. In addition, a novel framework for categorizing these methods is introduced and applied to the methods used in the seven domains of geophysics considered in this review. This paper also features a review of 93 papers dealing with issues that are common to data acquisition methods in different domains of geophysics, including the management of crowdsourcing projects, data quality, data processing, and data privacy. In each of these areas, the current status is discussed and challenges and future directions are outlined.