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The potential of volunteered geographic information to investigate peri-urbanization in the conservation zone of Mexico City

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Abstract

Due to the availability of Web 2.0 technologies, volunteered geographic information (VGI) is on the rise. This new type of data is available on many topics and on different scales. Thus, it has become interesting for research. This article deals with the collective potential of VGI and remote sensing to detect peri-urbanization in the conservation zone of Mexico City. On the one hand, remote sensing identifies horizontal urban expansion, and on the other hand, VGI of ecological complaints provides data about informal settlements. This enables the combination of top-down approaches (remote sensing) and bottom-up approaches (ecological complaints). Within the analysis, we identify areas of high urbanization as well as complaint densities and bring them together in a multi-scale analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Furthermore, we investigate the influence of settlement patterns and main roads on the peri-urbanization process in Mexico City using OpenStreetMap. Peri-urbanization is detected especially in the transition zone between the urban and rural (conservation) area and near main roads as well as settlements.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported with funding from the Centre for a Sustainable University (KNU) and from the Cluster of Excellence “Integrated Climate System Analysis and Prediction” (CliSAP—EXC177), through the German Science Foundation (DFG). Underlying RapidEye data has been contributed on behalf of the German Aerospace Center through funding by the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy. We thank John Elflein for proofreading.

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  1. Research Group Climate Change and Security (CLISEC), Institute of Geography, University of Hamburg, Grindelberg 5, 20144, Hamburg, Germany

    Katharina Heider, Juan Miguel Rodriguez Lopez & Jürgen Scheffran

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  1. Katharina Heider
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  2. Juan Miguel Rodriguez Lopez
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  3. Jürgen Scheffran
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Correspondence to Katharina Heider.

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Heider, K., Lopez, J.M.R. & Scheffran, J. The potential of volunteered geographic information to investigate peri-urbanization in the conservation zone of Mexico City. Environ Monit Assess 190, 219 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6597-3

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