USC Launches Crowdsourced Website to Keep Tabs on Billboards

When it comes to the wild west of billboards (read: Los Angeles), there's a new sheriff in town.

You.

USC has launched a new crowdsourced website that allows Angelenos to document the town's billboards. The project started in response to the city's apparent lack of control.

"The city has proved unable to keep up with billboard companies in their erection of new billboards -- and further, the city has been unable to keep up with billboard companies even in terms of knowledge as to the location of billboards at any given moment," according to the project.

The website features a Google map of Los Angeles with user-generated markers indicating billboards. Users can register on the site, and then start adding locations. Each map pin comes with metadata, such as billboard type, lighting, company name and more.

But can users "create a body of knowledge that the city and its agencies have as yet been unable to?"

"We believe so, and we hope that this website becomes a useful database of billboard locations for public and government use," write organizers.

The project was created as part of a Ph.D. candidate's dissertation in geography. The student, Elisabeth Sedano, is also interviewing users as part of the project. Volunteers can sign up online.

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