Connected Cyberinfrastructure: New Crowdsourced Mapping Infrastructure for GIS through Zooniverse
Skill Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Intended Audience: GIS User, GIS Builder, GIS Developer, GIS Instructor, Student, Management
Abstract
Zooniverse.org is the world’s largest platform for people-powered research, connecting millions of volunteers with professional research teams to analyze complex datasets. More than 1 billion volunteer classifications across astronomy, ecology, biology, and other disciplines have enabled discoveries, datasets, and publications that would not otherwise be possible. More than 500 projects have launched through Zooniverse’s free DIY Project Builder (zooniverse.org/lab).
A recent NSF-funded effort is extending Zooniverse’s infrastructure to support crowdsourced mapping and geospatial data processing. The new mapping tools enable volunteers and machine-learning systems to work together to accurately process, curate, and georeference complex datasets, creating new possibilities for geoscience, biodiversity, and disaster response.
Demonstrator projects illustrate the range of applications. In Beaver Dams, volunteers outline dams in satellite imagery, creating training data for AI models that identify dams and quantify their ecological contributions. In Notes from Nature, volunteers review machine-generated coordinates for historical plant specimens, transforming museum records into mappable biodiversity datasets. In McMurdo Dry Valleys, volunteers georeference historical Antarctic aerial photographs by identifying features shared with modern imagery, while machine-learning tools refine locations. Most recently, the Zooniverse Planetary Response Network launched a new project in response to flooding in Nepal, with volunteers identifying blocked roads and damaged bridges in satellite imagery to support humanitarian response efforts.
Together, these projects demonstrate a new model of connected cyberinfrastructure in which people and machines combine their complementary strengths to transform complex geospatial data into actionable, research-ready datasets at scale.
Presenters
Laura Trouille
VP Science Engagement, Adler Planetarium - Zooniverse
Laura Trouille, PhD, is Vice President of Science Engagement at the Adler Planetarium and Principal Investigator of Zooniverse, the world’s largest platform for people-powered research and a global collaboration with millions of volunteers and hundreds of research teams worldwide. She is a leading voice in advancing open, participatory science and the ethical use of AI in research. Trouille collaborates locally and internationally with universities, federal agencies, museums, libraries, and other organizations to unlock data, foster discovery, and strengthen connections between science and society. Prior to starting her current role in 2015, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University. She earned her bachelor’s in Physics from Dartmouth College and her PhD in Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Mark Bouslog
Software Engineer, Adler Planetarium - Zooniverse
Mark Bouslog has been a software engineer at the Adler Planetarium with the Zooniverse team since 2015. Prior to this work he was a manager of accounting and auditing for nine years.
Zack Wolfenbarger
DevOps and Infrastructure Engineer, Adler Planetarium - Zooniverse
Zach Wolfenbarger is the Lead DevOps and Infrastructure Engineer for Zooniverse, where he has worked for more than 10 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona.