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Ethics in the use of geospatial information in the Americas
Abstract
During the last decade, the use of geospatial information in decision-making has reached an especially important role, which is why its production has increased considerably. The particularities that individual geospatial information presents with respect to other types of personal information, such as the linking of sensitive information, has begun to generate concerns regarding the privacy of information and individual surveillance, being increasingly difficult to guarantee and ensure its protection, while other ethical problems and risks related to its use arise. For this reason, the development and implementation of principles and guidelines of conduct has become an increasingly necessary component to address the ethical challenges associated with the use of geospatial information, in order to achieve a greater perception of its benefits and less perception of their risks. However, at present, there is no common set of global ethical principles to guide their responsible use. Therefore, to achieve this, it is important to know the advances at the global and regional level in the generation and implementation of principles and guidelines related to the ethical use of geospatial in various cultural and political contexts. In this way, this article aims to present, for the first time, the methodology developed, and the results obtained for the evaluation of the current state of the design and implementation of strategies aimed at achieving the ethical use of geospatial information in the region of the Americas. The results indicate that there is a need to strengthen the issue of the ethical use of geospatial data in the region, since, although it is beginning to be included in the government agenda, there is still little awareness among generators and users of geospatial information about the risks and consequences of its misuse.
... The authors note that the UNGGIM has co-developed, with the World Bank, the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF), which are guidance documents that address the specific challenges associated with the management, use, and exchange of geospatial data and national strategies for the use of geospatial data to meet the 2030 Agenda and SDGs. Merodio Gomez et al. (2022) [78] explicated the potential misuse and monitoring concerns in the context of the Americas, with recommendations on ethical limitations (e.g., the Locus Charter) to ensure a balance between the risks and benefits of its use in South and Latin American countries. ...
The halfway point for the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was marked in 2023, as set forth in the 2030 Agenda. Geospatial technologies have proven indispensable in assessing and tracking fundamental components of each of the 17 SDGs, including climatological and ecological trends, and changes and humanitarian crises and socio-economic impacts. However, gaps remain in the capacity for geospatial and related digital technologies, like AI, to provide a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the complex and multi-factorial challenges delineated in the SDGs. Lack of progress toward these goals, and the immense implementation challenges that remain, call for inclusive and holistic approaches, coupled with transformative uses of digital technologies. This paper reviews transdisciplinary, holistic, and participatory approaches to address gaps in ethics and diversity in geospatial and related technologies and to meet the pressing need for bottom-up, community-driven initiatives. Small-scale, community-based initiatives are known to have a systemic and aggregate effect toward macro-economic and global environmental goals. Cybernetic systems thinking approaches are the conceptual framework investigated in this study, as these approaches suggest that a decentralized, polycentric system—for example, each community acting as one node in a larger, global system—has the resilience and capacity to create and sustain positive change, even if it is counter to top-down decisions and mechanisms. Thus, this paper will discuss how holistic systems thinking—societal, political, environmental, and economic choices considered in an interrelated context—may be central to building true resilience to climate change and creating sustainable development pathways. Traditional and Indigenous knowledge (IK) systems around the world hold holistic awareness of human-ecological interactions—practicable, reciprocal relationships developed over time as a cultural approach. This cultural holistic approach is also known as Systemic Literacy, which considers how systems function beyond “mechanical” aspects and include political, philosophical, psychological, emotional, relational, anthropological, and ecological dimensions. When Indigenous-led, these dimensions can be unified into participatory, community-centered conservation practices that support long-term human and environmental well-being. There is a growing recognition of the criticality of Indigenous leadership in sustainability practices, as well as that partnerships with Indigenous peoples and weaving knowledge systems, as a missing link to approaching global ecological crises. This review investigates the inequality in technological systems—the “digital divide” that further inhibits participation by communities and groups that retain knowledge of “place” and may offer the most transformative solutions. Following the review and synthesis, this study presents cybernetics as a bridge of understanding to Indigenous systems thinking. As non-Indigenous scholars, we hope that this study serves to foster informed, productive, and respectful dialogues so that the strength of diverse knowledges might offer whole-systems approaches to decision making that tackle wicked problems. Lastly, we discuss use cases of community-based processes and co-developed geospatial technologies, along with ethical considerations, as avenues toward enhancing equity and making advances in democratizing and decolonizing technology.
... The use of these types of data streams introduces privacy considerations that are not easily solved [81]. For example, geospatial data about people makes it possible to connect or link those people to other types of user information including work, social, political affiliation, and other behavioural patterns, all of which represent highly confidential information [82]. Furthermore, in terms of the analysis of such data, the inferences AI could make about an individual or group could also raise ethical issues. ...
The world’s current linear economic model is unsustainable. This model encourages improper use of limited natural resources and causes abundant waste production resulting in severe harm to the environment. A circular economy (CE) is a sustainable, restorative, and regenerative alternative to the current linear economy and is gaining popularity worldwide. Amongst various digital technologies, Artificial intelligence (AI) is a crucial enabler for CE and can aid significantly with the adoption and implementation of CE in real-world applications. In this paper, we describe the intersection of AI and CE and policies around implementing CE principles using AI. As a means of grounding the discussion, we discuss some initiatives taken by the Irish government to adopt circularity and explore the role AI plays in these. We present a number of practical examples of AI and CE from Ireland. We argue that digitalisation has potential in CE and it has a major role to play in the transition towards CE. We close the paper by reflecting on future steps around practical implementations of AI-based CE processes.
En el contexto ecuatoriano, el uso de drones ha aumentado considerablemente, al plantear preocupaciones sobre la vulneración de derechos fundamentales como la intimidad y la seguridad jurídica. Esta investigación analizó el impacto del uso de drones en la vulneración de dichos derechos y propuso sugerencias en busca de una regulación efectiva. Para ello, se realizó un estudio de campo mediante encuestas y entrevistas a actores judiciales y ciudadanos, al obtener una perspectiva sobre las implicaciones del uso de drones. Los resultados revelaron que existió una percepción generalizada de que los drones amenazaban la intimidad personal y familiar; de modo que ha destacado la prioridad de un marco regulatorio claro que garantice la protección de estos derechos.
Geospatial intelligence has become a vital tool for businesses to navigate complex spatial relationships and make informed decisions especially in the advent of Industry 5.0 which is characterized by hyperconnectivity, automation, and human-technology collaboration. This chapter explores the intersection of Industry 5.0 and geospatial science and the key requirements for the integration of geospatial science in Industry 5.0 while also highlighting how advancements in location intelligence technologies are reshaping industries, enhancing operational efficiency, and driving sustainable development. From smart cities to precision agriculture, the integration of geospatial data and analytics revolutionizes how organizations optimize workflows, mitigate risks, and deliver value in an increasingly interconnected world.
This chapter explores the ethics of geospatial data, examining how data collection methods have evolved and highlighting both benefits and past mistakes. The vast amount of geospatial data collected today creates new ethical challenges. The guide dives into core principles like privacy, security, and fairness in this context. Legal frameworks are explored to provide a complete picture. It then tackles present-day challenges like privacy concerns and bias in geospatial technologies. Looking ahead, the guide explores emerging technologies and emphasizes global collaboration for ethical practices. It presents potential future scenarios and analyzes how current actions will impact them. Regulations and ongoing ethical discussions are seen as crucial for shaping the future. Finally, the guide stresses the importance of continuous awareness, education, and ethical business practices to ensure geospatial data remains a force for good in our interconnected world.
In recent years, the concept of smart cities has become increasingly important in the pursuit of sustainable development goals. In general, common urban challenges have been addressed through smart-city services, and new perspectives for more sustainable cities have emerged. To realize the full potential of such smart urban environments, geospatial approaches have been used as a focal point, offering a plethora of applications that contribute to a better understanding of urban challenges and innovation potentials. Nevertheless, although significant progress has been made, different problems may arise when the available technologies and resources are not understood or even when their potentialities are not properly capitalized. This article reviews the state of the art in the field, highlighting success cases and remaining challenges in exploiting geospatial data-driven strategies, particularly when leveraging geographic information systems, satellites, and distributed sensors to produce and process geospatial data and datasets in urban scenarios. Moreover, a more organized perspective of the area is provided in this article, as well as future development trends, supporting new research efforts in this area when empowering smart cities for a more sustainable future.
(Link to article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tgis.13094)
Sensitive geographic data are invaluable assets for the people to whom they belong and their disclosure should be decided by the sovereign data owner (SDO). Due to several high‐profile data breaches and business models that commercialize user data, the need for new approaches to geoprivacy and data sovereignty has grown. We propose MapSafe, a client web application that first obfuscates datasets using donut masking or hexagonal binning, separately, and thereafter implements a multi‐level encryption scheme that permits SDOs to share the final encrypted volume containing the geospatial information when they choose and at a level of detail which they are comfortable. The authenticity verification of the volume is facilitated by storing the hash value corresponding to the encrypted volume immutably on the Blockchain as a public record. Our approach places geoprivacy under data guardians'’ control, and its integration capabilities promote its adoption in existing and future geospatial web systems.
Digital Earth scholars have recently argued for a code of ethics to protect individuals’ location privacy and human dignity. In this chapter, we contribute to the debate in two ways. First, we focus on (geo)privacy because information about an individual’s location is substantially different from other personal information. The compound word (geo)privacy suggests that location can be inferred from people’s interests, activities, and sociodemographics, not only from traditional geographic coordinates. (Geo)privacy is a claim of individuals to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent location information about them is communicated to others. Second, we take an interdisciplinary perspective. We draw from (geo)computing to describe the transformation of volunteered, observed, and inferred information and suggest privacy-preserving measures. We also draw from organization studies to dissect privacy into ideal types of social relationships and privacy-preserving strategies. We take the point of view of Alice, an individual ‘data subject’ encountered in data protection legislation, and suggest ways to account for privacy as a sociocultural phenomenon in the future. Although most of the discussion refers to the EU and the US, we provide a brief overview of data protection legislation on the African continent and in China as well as various global and regional ethics guidelines that are of very recent vintage.
During the last decade, the production of geospatial information has increased considerably; however, managing and sharing this information has become increasingly difficult for the organizations that produce it, because it comes from different data sources and has a wide variety of users. In this sense, to have a better use of geospatial information, several countries have developed national spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) to improve access, visualization, and integration of their data and in turn, have the need to cooperate with other countries to develop regional SDIs, which allow better decision making with regional impact. However, its design and development plan requires, as a starting point, to knowing the level of development of the national SDIs to identify the strengths and gaps that exist in the region. This document presents the methodology developed and the results obtained from the evaluation of the status of implementation of the SDI components in each of the member countries of the Regional Committee of United Nations on Global Geospatial Information Management for the Americas (UN-GGIM: Americas), which will contribute to the equal development of SDIs in an integrated and collaborative way in the Americas.
We build on discussions of ethical values for the good society by foregrounding the potential role of emerging technologies in realizing the good society. Specifically, we look at the emergence of drones and the evolving regulation of their ownership and use. We present a qualitative, thematic analysis of city council meetings in 20 cities in southern California where drone regulation was discussed from 2014 to 2017. These results show the ethical themes that were operative in such discussions: privacy, safety, enforceability, crime, nuisance and professionality. Underlying most of these themes is trust. We discuss this concept with respect to the good society, and we suggest that trust may be more critical to emerging technologies than technologies in general. That is, trust in an emerging technology is required for it to be accepted and more fully integrated in society. Without trust, it is difficult for society to accept the technology.
Ready data availability, cheap storage capacity, and powerful tools for extracting information from data have the potential to significantly enhance the human condition. However, as with all advanced technologies, this comes with the potential for misuse. Ethical oversight and constraints are needed to ensure that an appropriate balance is reached. Ethical issues involving data may be more challenging than the ethical challenges of some other advanced technologies partly because data and data science are ubiquitous, having the potential to impact all aspects of life, and partly because of their intrinsic complexity. We explore the nature of data, personal data, data ownership, consent and purpose of use, trustworthiness of data as well as of algorithms and of those using the data, and matters of privacy and confidentiality. A checklist is given of topics that need to be considered.
Scholarly communication is at an unprecedented turning point created in part by the increasing saliency of data stewardship and data sharing. Formal data management plans represent a new emphasis in research, enabling access to data at higher volumes and more quickly, and the potential for replication and augmentation of existing research. Data sharing has recently transformed the practice, scope, content, and applicability of research in several disciplines, in particular in relation to spatially specific data. This lends exciting potentiality, but the most effective ways in which to implement such changes, particularly for disciplines involving human subjects and other sensitive information, demand consideration. Data management plans, stewardship, and sharing, impart distinctive technical, sociological, and ethical challenges that remain to be adequately identified and remedied. Here, we consider these and propose potential solutions for their amelioration.
As location-enabled technologies are becoming ubiquitous, our location is being shared with an ever-growing number of external services. Issues revolving around location privacy—or geoprivacy— therefore concern the vast majority of the population, largely without knowing how the underlying technologies work and what can be inferred from an individual’s location (especially if recorded over longer periods of time). Research, on the other hand, has largely treated this topic from isolated standpoints, most prominently from the tech- nological and ethical points of view. This article therefore reflects upon the current state of geoprivacy from a broader perspective. It integrates technological, ethical, legal, and educational aspects and clarifies how they interact and shape how we deal with the corresponding technology, both individually and as a society. It does so in the form of a manifesto, consisting of 21 theses that summarize the main arguments made in the article. These theses argue that location information is different from other kinds of personal information and, in combination, show why geoprivacy (and privacy in general) needs to be protected and should not become a mere illusion. The fictional couple of Jane and Tom is used as a running example to illustrate how common it has become to share our location information, and how it can be used—both for good and for worse.
The rise of Internet of Things has been improving the so-called mobile Online Social Networks (mOSNs) in sense of more ubiquitous inter-communication and information sharing. Meanwhile, location sharing service is known as the key cornerstone supporting the major functionalities of mOSNs. Unfortunately, location sharing has also caused similarly serious concerns on the potential privacy leakage. But solutions in previous works which enforces anonymity on location-based data transmissions end up ineffective in concealing users’ genuine identity as well as protecting their entire social relations. In order to solve this problem, we propose BMobishare, a security enhanced privacy-preserving location sharing mechanism. It employs the Bloom Filter to mask sensitive data exchanges between location based servers and social network servers, such that both side cannot obtain unauthorized privacy information during location sharing. Analyses and evaluations showed that BMobishare’s enhanced location sharing procedure achieves significantly better performance when compared to existing approaches. It also effectively impedes the involved third-parties from illegally misusing privacy-related user information required in the process.
In conclusion, VGI has been a boon to the discipline of geography in that it has popularized the use of maps and citizen science, such that peoplewith no formal training in the geospatial sciences can now contribute to theproduction of near real-time production of geospatial information in timesof crisis, as well as contribute to our understanding of environmental andhealth hazards. In addition, the proliferation of easy-to-use Internet toolshas enabled amateur geographers from all over the world to produce anddistribute geospatial information from the comfort of their living rooms. Indeed, these benefits highlight and promote the library's role in educating the public in the appropriate uses of data (i.e., information literacy). However, as we all become more engaged with data collections (including maps and VGI-based services) that are housed both inside and outside the library's physical and virtual domains, it is important to be well informed about data privacy and liability issues surrounding both traditional and nontraditional sources of information that their patrons are able to access using the library's computing resources (Sui et al. 2013).
Volunteered geographic information (VGI) is a phenomenon of recent years, offering an alternative mechanism for the acquisition and compilation of geographic information. As such it offers substantial advantages, but suffers from a general lack of quality assurance. We discuss the issues involved in the determination of quality for geospatial data, and trace the history of research on VGI quality. We describe three approaches to quality assurance, which we term the crowd-sourcing, social, and geographic approaches respectively. We discuss the advantages and limitations of each, and the research that will be needed to operationalize the geographic approach.
The Digital Earth movement is gaining momentum. Much of it is unstructured. This paper examines a number of recent developments including those in health sensors (Wearable Absence, Q-Sensor and Guardian Angels), and systems frameworks (Gelernter's Mirror Worlds, Virtual Australia and New Zealand). Consideration is given to the implications of Digital Earth for citizens and on citizen science, including those of ethics. A suite of principles to guide the development of Digital Earth is proposed.
The proliferation of mapping technologies has sparked much attention and debate on the ethical conduct in the use of geographic information systems (GIS). Among the many ethical issues that surround the use of geospatial technologies are standards of ethical practice, data accuracy and validation, information liability, copyright, quality assurance and duty of care, licensing, disclaimers, metadata, and intent of use. These issues are becoming increasingly important as, for example, the data used in a class project may be published and referenced in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal or a mass/social media outlet. In the current age of electronic social media, care must be taken when transmitting PHI elements electronically, whether it is via e-mail or FTP. Users transmitting PHI elements must ensure that the e-mail is encrypted and the FTP site is secure. Breaches of HIPAA are taken very seriously by compliance offices, and each incident must be recorded and reported accurately.
This article discusses the loss of reserve, a critical component of privacy, caused by technological advances. I define reserve as our ability to control what information about us is disclosed, and what is not. As technology evolves, the protective inefficiencies of the early information age have given way to increasing intrusiveness, with corresponding impacts on the level of privacy we enjoy. As people embrace new technologies, they neglect to assess the impact on the privacies they claim to cherish. Of the four facets of privacy—solitude, intimacy, anonymity, and reserve—the erosion of privacy may have its greatest effect on the loss of reserve. The negative impact of technology on reserve is examined, along with the need for meaningful societal discourse regarding the role of technology in our everyday lives.
Concepts of privacy are fluid. They change according to historical contingencies and are mediated by technology. Geospatial technologies are now altering the way privacy is being considered. Remote sensing technologies can be used to observe, or infer, the locations of individuals from space, from remotely piloted aircraft, and from fixed terrestrial observation points. Other geospatial technologies can be used to track movements and to recover individual-level information from maps. These changes are welcomed by some, since they provide a certain level of public safety (e.g., E-911). In other cases, however, a lack of awareness about the sinister aspects of surveillance may lead to complacency. Where personal privacy is eroded, individuals should be aware of the limitations of technology and the degree to which it may be applied to monitor their activities.