Using smart phones for conservation field work

A new article in the always-interesting open-source journal PLoS ONE presents a framework for a new technology that I am pretty sure will become a major innovation over the next few years – using smart phone applications for conservation field work. If we can use our i-phones to figure out where we left our car in the parking garage, certainly we can use it to collect ecological data in the field. 

The framework involves developing an application that would take advantage of the Android open source operating system developed for some smart phones (though unfortunately not the i-phone)  along with the built-in gps and google maps to collect data and communicate it to a central web-based database for a project. Similarly, users would be able to retrieve data from central databases onto their phones and filter data based on different variables. 

The researchers propose a really cool idea for the use of this framework – the recruitment of “citizen scientists” to contribute data easily to central databases through their mobile phone. Imagine the possibilities - for example - training volunteers across the world to use their smart phones to collect data on endangered species occurrences and transmit the information, including photos,  all on the fly – updating open-ended datasets that are available for anyone to access. 

The researchers used the framework to develop a prototype which they tested out by collecting soils data. As always, PLoS ONE is open access, so you can view the full article for free. I’ve included a screenshot from their prototype below…a taste of the future.

Simple field test of the application with data submitted to a project-specific website. Image credit, PLoS ONE.

Aanensen, D., Huntley, D., Feil, E., al-Own, F., & Spratt, B. (2009). EpiCollect: Linking Smartphones to Web Applications for Epidemiology, Ecology and Community Data Collection PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006968

Comments

[Jason R]

Maybe they can call it the SciPhone.