ISPRS-Archives

The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences

ISPRS-Archives

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

2194-9034

Copernicus Publications

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W13-2025-245-2025

Challenges and Opportunities in University-Based Humanitarian Mapathons: Enhancing Citizen Science Contributions to Open Spatial Data

Trojan

Jakub

¹ Srnečková

Tereza

Faculty of Logistics and Crisis Management, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Studentské nám. 1532, 686 01 Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic

11 07 2025

XLVIII-4/W13-2025 245 250

2025

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLVIII-4-W13-2025/245/2025/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W13-2025-245-2025.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLVIII-4-W13-2025/245/2025/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W13-2025-245-2025.pdf

Citizen science has become a key paradigm for the creation and improvement of digital geographic data, especially in areas often neglected by commercial mapping initiatives (Vohland et al., 2021). University mapathons are an important tool for engaging students in humanitarian mapping and have the potential to contribute significantly to the quality and quantity of volunteered geographic data as a gathering place for a particular community interested in self-development and contributing to society-wide development. This paper analyses the complex aspects related to the organisation and implementation of mapathons in a university setting, focusing on a case study of Tomas Bata University in Zlín.