A Computational Model for Sketch Map Alignment: PhD Proposal

Sketch maps are an intuitive way of expressing geospatial information. They contain objects which represent real world geographic features, relations between these objects, and oftentimes symbolic and textual annotations (Blaser [2]). These elements enable us to use sketch maps to communicate about our environments and to reason about our actions in those environments. In this way sketch maps provide an intuitive user interaction modality for some geospatial computer applications (Egenhofer [4]). Especially with the advent of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) (Goodchild [6]) sketch maps may be the key to removing the barriers imposed by the technical requirements of traditional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (Schwering [1]). VGI is, essentially, geographic information contributed by individuals or groups of individuals to a shared information resource on a voluntary basis [6]. A good example of the application of sketch maps in VGI is the walking papers 1 project in which sketch maps are being used to contribute both thematic and geometric data to the openstreetmap 2 database. The process involves sketching over a bar coded printout of some tiles of the openstreetmap data and then scanning it back into