Case study of
#00097 Open citizen-science litter mapping with geotagged, brand-level data
Global (origin Cork, Ireland)
#00090
OngoingGlobal
Implementer
Seán Lynch / OpenLitterMap
Timeline
Since Apr 1, 2017
Location
Global (origin Cork, Ireland)51.8985, -8.4756
Description
OpenLitterMap was started by Seán Lynch in Cork, Ireland in 2017 as an open-source, open-data platform modelled on OpenStreetMap. Users photograph and geotag litter via an app, recording type, material, and brand into a publicly accessible database. Contribution is incentivised through a gamified "Littercoin" reward system. The resulting dataset is openly reusable by researchers, governments, and NGOs.
Metrics
3Uploads~500,000
Contributors8,000+
Countries covered100+
Lessons learned
- Fully open code and open data (modelled on OpenStreetMap) maximised reuse by researchers, governments, and NGOs — a proprietary model would have limited downstream impact.
- Gamification via Littercoin rewards sustained contributor engagement over time.
- Crowdsourced data is spatially uneven and concentrated where active contributors are located, which must be accounted for in any analysis or policy use.
Sources
2Documented Jun 26, 2026