International Workshop on Exploring the new frontiers of Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI)

Workshop organised by EuroSDR and hosted by IGN

Paris, France

August 31^st and September 1^st 2026

EuroSDR has been involved with the topic of 'Volunteered Geographic Information' (VGI) for many years, particularly due to the potential for National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies (NMCAs) to utilise VGI when faced with achieving more with fewer resources. The first EuroSDR Workshop on this topic took place in 2009 in Wabern, Switzerland (Crowd Sourcing for Updating National Databases - Identifying common interests and future research issues of crowd sourcing for the updating of national databases - Workshop Report, 2009[1]). Subsequent follow-on workshops were held during 2012, 2017, and 2020. The most recent event was held in Glasgow (Scotland) in June 2024 as a joint EuroSDR and AGILE workshop during the AGILE 2024 conference (see Current Trends on Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies – Workshop Report[2]).

One of the conclusions of the 2024 Event Workshop Report highlighted the potential for a standalone workshop addressing the key topic, 'Do NMCAs see VGI and crowdsourcing as part of their future strategies and plans?'.

Using this as motivation, EuroSDR invites NMCAs, researchers, public servants, members of the OSM community and other crowdsourcing communities, as well as geospatial industry representatives, to present, discuss, and share their experiences during a dedicated lunch-to-lunch workshop on August 31^st and September 1^st 2026 to be hosted by IGN in Paris.

In an era shaped by ‘geocommons’ (i.e., geospatial data collectively defined, maintained, shared, and used by a community), digital twins, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) the role and new frontiers of VGI are redefined. This workshop aims to act as a catalyst for the revival of interest in VGI within NMCAs and public authorities, to build upon existing work and explore new opportunities to extend the use of crowd-sourcing and digital commons at local, regional, national, or international levels.

Venue of the workshop:
IGN - Géoroom
8 avenue Pasteur
94160 Saint-Mandé, France

Attendance at the workshop is possible without the need to submit an abstract (see registration form at the very bottom of this page). The submission of an abstract is required for those participants who wish to present their work at the workshop.

Timeline and Deadlines

· 1 June 2026: Deadline for submissions

· 15 June 2026: Notification of acceptance / rejection

· 29 June 2026: Program announcement

· 24 August 2026: Registration deadline

· 31 August - 1 September 2026: International EuroSDR Workshop on the new frontiers of VGI

Workshop Committee

Frédéric Cantat, EuroSDR and IGN France
Dr Ana-Maria Raimond, Gustave Eiffel University, Géodata Paris and IGN France
Dr Peter Mooney, Maynooth University, Ireland
Prof Juha Oksanen, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, National Land Survey of Finland

Questions regarding the workshop or the submission process should be directed to EuroSDR@mu.ie

Workshop Program (pdf)

Monday 31 August Day 1 12:00 – 18:00 (CET)
12:00	Registration and Lunch
13:30	Welcome address
13:40	Opening address	Peter Mooney, Maynooth University, Ana-Maria Raimond, Gustave Eiffel University and IGN France / Géodata Paris, Juha Oksanen, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute and National Land Survey, Frédéric Cantat, EuroSDR / IGN France
14:00	Presentations session (part 1) Volunteered usability metadata and topographic change modelling Comparing and Improving Volunteered and Authoritative Road Data: Insights from a Systematic Cross-Dataset Analysis Romania's National Geospatial System and VGI	Bénédicte Bucher and Ana-Maria Raimond, Gustave Eiffel University and IGN France / Géodata Paris Knut Jetlund, Norwegian Mapping Authority and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Bjørn Arild Godager, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Ileana Spiroiu, National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (ANCPI)
15:15	Coffee break
15:45	Presentations session (part 1) Panoramax, the free alternative to photo-mapping territories IDEAMAPS Data Ecosystem, community-centred validation of urban deprivation models	Amélie Crépin and Christian Quest, IGN France Diego Pajarito Grajales and Vanessa Galeano Duque, Urban Big Data Centre
16:35	Breakout session 1	What approaches can be used to provide data validation and data training benchmarks based on data from crowd / community sourcing and geo-commons?
17:30	Summary of breakout session 1	Short summary from Day 1 and planning for Day 2
17:50	Wrap-up of Day 1
18:00	End of Day 1
20:00	Social dinner
Tuesday 1 September Day 2 09:00 – 13:00 (CET)
09:00	Opening of Day 1
09:05	Keynote –National mapping and cadastral agencies (NMCAs) and geocommons, a way for a sustainable and sovereign future at the European scale?	IGN France
09:45	Interactive session: How to keep OpenStreetMap and other open geospatial data ecosystems sustainable with the rise of AI?	Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, OpenStreetMap Foundation
10:15	Coffee Break
10:45	Breakout session 2	Exploring the new frontiers of Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI). What does the future of VGI look like? This breakout session will consider ideas around contributing to a position paper on this topic authored by the delegates of the workshop
11:45	Summary of breakout session 1
12:00	Publication planning and next steps	We plan to organise collaboration on a peer-reviewed journal paper around the topic of new frontiers in Volunteered Geographic Information. Here we will discuss the practical steps of working together on this in the coming months.
12:30	Closing of Day 2 and Lunch
14:00	End of the Workshop

International Workshop on Exploring the new frontiers of Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI)

Related publications

Registration form