Keywords
Android phone, citizen science, ecosystem service mapping, smartphone application
Location
Session A4: Smart and Mobile Devices Used for Environmental Applications
Start Date
18-6-2014 10:40 AM
End Date
18-6-2014 12:00 PM
Abstract
The ecosystem service (ESS) concept increasingly enters the realms of policy and planning. Simultaneously demands for ecosystem service data and maps increase. The new ESS mapping application is intended as a contribution to solve the problem how demands for and supply of multiple ESS can be mapped in a reliable and cost-efficient way. Comparable to efforts in biology in mapping the occurrence of plants and animals, the new smartphone application can be used as a tool in citizen science as well as in research projects by students and scientists. Based on The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) or other classification systems, Ecosystem Service Mapping (ESM) App users can map ESS they either observe or use, and additionally select the ecosystems or land-use types in which the ESS are used or which are providing the ESS. The App uses built-in GPS functionality of the smartphones to locate the ESS, as well as the internal clock for a time stamp. Recorded ESS can directly be displayed on a map. Once recorded, results are stored on the phone and submitted to a server, which is collecting mapping results of all users. Beyond ESS mapping, users optionally can provide their home location for distance calculations, rank how important mapped ESS are for them and export recorded ESS. All users receive a registry code number provided by the server, but all records are submitted anonymously and beyond the registry code, no user-specific information is collected. The ESM-App currently is in its beta phase and has been sent out to users for field testing. Beyond, additional server functionalities such as plausibility tests, data processing and map generation are planned, to provide more feedback for ESM-App users, and to deliver ESM-mapping results for science, policy and planning.
Included in
Civil Engineering Commons, Data Storage Systems Commons, Environmental Engineering Commons, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons
The ESM-App - a new smartphone application to map ecosystem services
Session A4: Smart and Mobile Devices Used for Environmental Applications
The ecosystem service (ESS) concept increasingly enters the realms of policy and planning. Simultaneously demands for ecosystem service data and maps increase. The new ESS mapping application is intended as a contribution to solve the problem how demands for and supply of multiple ESS can be mapped in a reliable and cost-efficient way. Comparable to efforts in biology in mapping the occurrence of plants and animals, the new smartphone application can be used as a tool in citizen science as well as in research projects by students and scientists. Based on The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) or other classification systems, Ecosystem Service Mapping (ESM) App users can map ESS they either observe or use, and additionally select the ecosystems or land-use types in which the ESS are used or which are providing the ESS. The App uses built-in GPS functionality of the smartphones to locate the ESS, as well as the internal clock for a time stamp. Recorded ESS can directly be displayed on a map. Once recorded, results are stored on the phone and submitted to a server, which is collecting mapping results of all users. Beyond ESS mapping, users optionally can provide their home location for distance calculations, rank how important mapped ESS are for them and export recorded ESS. All users receive a registry code number provided by the server, but all records are submitted anonymously and beyond the registry code, no user-specific information is collected. The ESM-App currently is in its beta phase and has been sent out to users for field testing. Beyond, additional server functionalities such as plausibility tests, data processing and map generation are planned, to provide more feedback for ESM-App users, and to deliver ESM-mapping results for science, policy and planning.
