This article presents an innovative approach to establish the quality and credibility of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) such that it can be considered in Land Administration Systems (LAS) on a Fit for Purpose (FFP) basis. A participatory land information system can provide affordable and timely FFP information about land and its resources. However, the establishment of such a system involves more than just technical solutions and administrative procedures: many social, economic and political aspects must be considered. Innovative approaches like VGI can help address the lack of accurate, reliable and FFP land information for LAS, but integration of such sources relies on the quality and credibility of VGI. Verifying volunteer efforts can be difficult without reference to ground truth: a novel Trust and Reputation Modelling (TRM) methodology is proposed as a suitable technique to effect such VGI dataset validation. TRM has proved that VGI can produce quality and reliable datasets which can be used to conduct regular systematic updates of geographic information in official systems. It relies on a view that the public can police themselves in establishing proxy measures of VGI quality thus facilitating VGI to be used on a FFP basis in LAS.

Developing countries, especially in Africa are faced with a lack of formally registered land. Available limited records are outdated, inaccurate and unreliable, which makes it a challenge to properly administer and manage land and its resources. In the face of such problems, a large proportion of the population in developing countries depends on land and its resources for their sustenance. Developing countries are unable to adopt traditional land administration systems (LAS) due to their lack of capacity and financial constraints. Traditional LAS are characterised by expensive licence fees, procedures, and maintenance structures which are not feasible in developing countries. Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has the potential to address these challenges by providing timely, affordable, up-to-date, flexible, and fit for purpose (FFP) land information to support the limited current systems. This paper investigates major aspects of developing a conceptual participatory framework for a FFP land administration based on VGI, and conducts a case study in how the system can be applied in local processes, in the context of customary land tenure system in Botswana. The aspects were successfully implemented in the case study area to demonstrate their applicability and roles they could play in ensuring that VGI is reliable and conforms to the legal and institutional regulations of Land Boards. It has further provided an understanding of how VGI can be collected, assessed, and utilized at Land Boards to improve key land transactions on a FFP basis. Furthermore, innovative approaches to Trust and Reputation Modelling (TRM) are presented, minimising the need for ground-truthing of VGI data.

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