The increasing use of smartphones has led to a surge in crowdsourcing initiatives, where citizens easily collect and upload information using advanced sensors, leveraging the collective efforts of the crowd. However, these devices face accuracy issues that must be addressed before they can be used effectively in certain applications. While most research has focused on GNSS-based positioning errors, compass-based orientation errors have received far less attention. This paper presents a novel method for determining the geolocation of static events by combining contributions from multiple volunteers located around a target event. Instead of straight lines, the method applies funnel-shaped regions to represent the azimuths toward the target location and encompasses various phases to address errors stemming from measured azimuths. These compass-based orientation errors have attracted less attention compared to GNSS-based positioning errors. The approach mitigates the uncertainty in azimuth measurements, producing a set of regions that contain the target location with different levels of confidence. Its reliability was tested in three case studies with known target locations, using metrics such as area and compactness. The results were promising, indicating that the developed approach is particularly useful in applications that do not require a high degree of accuracy (common in many crowdsourcing projects), such as the geolocation of forest fire ignitions − once in the vicinity they can be easily spotted. Implementing this approach within a system that collates citizens’ contributions can furnish invaluable information to authorities, empowering prompt action during emergency scenarios.

中文翻译：

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使用移动设备收集的数据对公民观察到的静态事件进行远程地理定位


智能手机的使用越来越多，导致了众包计划的激增，公民利用人群的集体努力，使用先进的传感器轻松收集和上传信息。然而，这些设备面临精度问题，必须先解决这些问题，然后才能在某些应用中有效使用。虽然大多数研究都集中在基于 GNSS 的定位误差上，但基于指南针的方向误差受到的关注要少得多。本文提出了一种通过组合位于目标事件周围的多个志愿者的贡献来确定静态事件地理位置的新方法。该方法不是直线，而是应用漏斗形区域来表示朝向目标位置的方位角，并包含各个阶段以解决由测量的方位角引起的误差。与基于 GNSS 的定位误差相比，这些基于指南针的方向误差受到的关注较少。该方法降低了方位角测量中的不确定性，生成了一组包含具有不同置信度的目标位置的区域。其可靠性在三个具有已知目标位置的案例研究中进行了测试，使用面积和紧凑度等指标。结果是有希望的，这表明开发的方法在不需要高精度的应用（在许多众包项目中很常见）特别有用，例如森林火灾点火的地理定位——一旦它们进入附近，就可以很容易地被发现。在整理公民意见的系统中实施这种方法可以为当局提供宝贵的信息，从而在紧急情况下迅速采取行动。