cobweb: citizen observatories web ecology meets the crowd - crona hodges
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given at the 33rd CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) Workshop, part of the Joint CEN/TC 287 and OGC Workshop which took place on 30th September 2013, Frascati, Italy. Find out more about the COBWEB Project at: http://cobwebproject.eu/dissemination/ access management,citizen observatory,cobweb,cobwebfp7,,european union,fp7,geoss,samlTRANSCRIPT
CIEEM Welsh Section Conference
21st February 2014
Crona Hodges
Research Officer
http://cobwebproject.eu/
COBWEB
Citizen Observatories Web
Ecology meets the crowd
Structure
• Introduction to COBWEB
• Crowdsourcing projects
• COBWEB case studies
• Important dates
In a nut shell…
• Four year research project; month 16 of 48
• Funded under the European Commission‟s Framework Programme 7 (Grant No: 308513)
• Crowdsource environmental data to aid
decision making
• Understand data quality issues and reduce
uncertainty
Biosphere Reserves
www.biosfferdyfi.org.uk
What are we interested in?
A number of demonstrator mobile
phone applications
Exactly what, deliberately left open and
subject to discussion with stakeholders
Three subject areas:
1. Validating earth
observation products
2. Biological monitoring
3. Flooding
Other crowdsourcing projects
• OPAL: get in touch with nature
Bugs count: Download the Bugs
Count App!
– Browse ID tips, photos, facts, and
submit your Species Quest
observations direct from your
mobile phone.
– Generates valuable scientific data
concerning the state of our
environment.
Other crowdsourcing projects
• iSpot: your place to share nature
- Learn more about wildlife, share your interest
with a friendly community and get help identifying
what you have seen
Other crowdsourcing projects
• Observations map
• Filter by group, taxonomy, habitat, date or tag
Other crowdsourcing projects
• BioBlitz: “…a frantic 24 hour science marathon to identify
and catalogue as many varieties of living species as
possible.”
Other crowdsourcing projects
“Help us take nature's pulse by joining the big butterfly count”
• Over 70,000 hits on the big butterfly count website in 2013
• Smartphone app downloaded 5,500 times for the 2013 survey.
Other crowdsourcing projects
BTO Bird Track App
• Works without a network/WiFi connection
• Add casual records
• Create complete and incomplete BirdTrack lists
• Use maps and GPS to get accurate location fixes
• Download the full British and Irish species list
• Sync all your existing BirdTrack sites
• Verify all sightings against the local BirdTrackthresholds
• Upload everything into your BirdTrack account
• View what species have been seen in your local area over 3, 7 or 14 days
• View local hotspots (~50 miles from device) over 3, 7 or 14 days
• View your year and life lists
• View species you still need this year and life
• Full help within the app
Other crowdsourcing projects
http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/birdtrack/taking-part
Other crowdsourcing projects
• 590,000 people took part
• 8.2 million birds counted
COBWEB case studies
• Dyfi Woodland
• Outward Bound
• Bro Dyfi High School
• AU MSc students
• Tal y Bont „Floodies‟
• Fieldtrip GB
Fieldtrip GB – a bespoke data capture app to support field trips
EDINA – University of Edinburgh
http://fieldtripgb.blogs.edina.ac.uk/
What does it do?
All the key features: Capture information
Images Audio Text Location
High quality background maps
Saved maps for use “offline”
Custom data collection forms
Manual location correction
It’s Free!
http://fieldtripgb.blogs.edina.ac.uk/
COBWEB case studies
Watch this space…
• Month 16 of 48 – still some flexibility
• November 2013: Milestone 2:
– End of design and initial stakeholder
engagement phase. Start implementing
platform
• November 2014: Milestone 3:
– First Welsh demonstrator completed and
ready for testing in the field
[email protected] @CobwebFP7