This makes perfect sense to me. Say you want to capture images (or I guess any sort of sensed data about a place) but for whatever reason, poeple just don't go there. What if you could "guide them there" with the lure of more points or prizes or the like? It's my understanding that Waze already does that as it tries to complete its maps of road networks in the United States. And, a new mobile phone based running game tries to entice you to run faster (from the Zombies!).
A paper from Northwestern Univeristy suggests that the mechanics work just as well for having individuals on foot take and share phots at places of interest. If they need to shoot the ghost, and it happens to at the location where data is needed, the player will oblige. The researchers make it clear that players are told exactly how the data they capture will be used and how/if their personal information will be attached. Thus, this is not really "coerced geographic information."
