A mobile sensing and visualization platform for environmental data
Three researchers from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Padua developed the foundational aspects of a mobile app that is intended to collect, display, and integrate environmental data, particularly light and noise, set to release in 2020. Sensors and communication devices on a mobile application can already display and collect environmental data, and the researchers wanted to create a mobile application for environmental data that could be integrated into Google Maps or some other mainstream mapping service available on cell phones, to display that data in real-time. Pedestrians could plan their routes based on these environmental data, allowing them to avoid places with possibly unpleasant noise levels or heat caused by strong sun exposure. In early tests, the app would also collect and store long term usage data about the type and amount of environmental data collected over time, allowing users to see long term trends in their reporting and environmental conditions. The app is still in its early stages of development, with noise and light being the two test metrics that the researchers chose to rest their concept on, with more aiming to be added in the future. The app developers also openly acknowledge that accurate data collection depends on the sensors in a person’s phone being fully exposed to the elements (for example, a phone can’t accurately measure sunlight if it’s tucked in a purse), which arguably isn’t the most practical for users on the go who would prefer to put their phone in their pocket or bag. There are definitely some hurdles for this app to overcome, but it still represents a technological leap in personal environmental data collection and utilization.
Categories
Data, Ecological Monitoring, Internet of Things, Monitoring, Regulation
More Ideas
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies