Cropland Validation

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Our new SIGMA Campaign: CROPLAND VALIDATION

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Citizen Science Campaign: CROPLAND VALIDATION! Our aim is to validate around 40,000 areas of interest as cropland or non-cropland, which will help us to better identify where cropland is actually located on the Earth's surface.

The top 30 participants (ranked by a combination of the highest quality and quantity of validations) will have the option to choose between two main prizes: 1) to become a co-author on a scientific paper about our latest and best global cropland map or 2) to receive an Amazon gift voucher, which will range in value from 25 to 750 EUR, depending upon your position on the final leaderboard.

Sign up now to join our Cropland Validation Campaign and help us tackle complex global issues such as future food security!

How to Join the Campaign?

Go to our Geo-Wiki platform at http://www.geo-wiki.org. If you are new to Geo-Wiki, "Register" and then login to the Geowiki portal with your email address and password. Click on the "Enter Application" button, select the "SIGMA" branch from the dropdown box and click on "Start Validation".

SIGMA

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) was launched at the 2002 Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa. Its main vision is to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) through a coordination of remote sensing activities around the globe. As one of its strategic targets GEO aims to advance sustainable agriculture. The G20 launched in June 2011 the “Global Agricultural Geo-Monitoring” (GEOGLAM) and the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) initiatives. The main objective of GEOGLAM is to improve crop forecasts to increase transparency on agricultural production through the creation of an operational global agricultural monitoring “system of systems” based on earth observation and in situ data.

SIGMA (Stimulating Innovation for Global Monitoring of Agriculture) Project is a part of Europe’s contribution to GEOGLAM, actively networking expert organizations world-wide, in a common effort to enhance current remote sensing based agricultural monitoring techniques. Its aim is to develop innovative methods and indicators to monitor and assess progress towards “sustainable agriculture”, focused on the assessment of longer term impact of agricultural dynamics on the environment and vice versa

SIGMA implements activities in Europe, Russia, Ukraine, China, Vietnam, Africa, Argentina and Brazil and is financed by the Seventh Framework Program (FP7).