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Prototype smart phone application to report water quality conditions.
Citation:
Schaeffer, B., D. Keith, R. Lunetta, R. Conmy, AND R. Gould. Prototype smart phone application to report water quality conditions. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/C-13/005, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
This application has the potential to disseminate satellite images as geo-referenced data images to mobile devices.
Description:
The EPA Pathfinder Innovation Project has identified that environmental managers are typically limited in their time and ability to use and handle satellite remote sensing data due to the file size and complexity in the data structures. Therefore this project developed the Mobile Access to Remote Sensing (MARS) prototype mobile application. This application has the potential to disseminate satellite images as geo-referenced data images to mobile devices. Appealing to the nature of a generation who embraces Web 2.0, this application will allow for two-way communications. Not only will satellite images be pushed to stakeholders, federal and state policy makers, environmental managers and the general public, but the same people will have the ability to send data back to the system. People will have the opportunity to be at a location, pull up the satellite imagery on their mobile device and view a map of their surroundings in terms of water quality parameters such as phytoplankton biomass, suspended material, light attenuation, and colored dissolved organic matter. They will also have the ability to provide their qualitative or quantitative assessment of the water quality to the website for others to see and view. This will allow scientists to make connections between quantitative data and qualitative responses based on stakeholder perceptions. The application will also allow users to point at a particular location of interest and pull the historical archive of all available water quality parameters at that particular location for viewing of the historical record. This function is similar to how one would view a stock ticker chart. Scientists and managers will be able to identify other projects focused within a particular water body. For example, if a scientist were studying water quality in a particular estuary they could upload the parameters that they are focusing on and contact information. This is a way to connect policy makers, environmental managers,