EpiCollect Makes Geo-aware Data Collection Easier
The BBC News describes a promising new application for data collection via mobile phones in the article, Mobile app sees science go global.
The EpiCollect software collates data from certain mobiles – on topics such as disease spread or the occurrence of rare species – in a web-based database.
The data is statistically analysed and plotted on maps that are instantly available to those same phones.
The approach is outlined in the open-access journal PLoS ONE. [Here's that article]
The software has been developed for so-called smartphones that run Google’s Android open-source operating system.
Researchers can report back to the EpiCollect database with results from experiments they do in the field, and “citizen scientists” can send back photos or videos of certain species from their own backyards.
The phones’ GPS system automatically logs users’ locations, and the data is then plotted by location using Google Maps. Then anyone can access the database online, or from their phone.
The “home” for EpiCollect appears to be on SpatialEpidemiology.net. Also be sure to check out the original source article, EpiCollect: Linking Smartphones to Web Applications for Epidemiology, Ecology and Community Data Collection.
Links:
Mobile app sees science go global from BBC News
EpiCollect: Linking Smartphones to Web Applications for Epidemiology, Ecology and Community Data Collection
