Farmers like Mark Desaliy can use the app to monitor fires near their stations.

Our initial release of the North Australia and Rangelands Fire Information (NAFI) app for iOS and Android back in February brings the most used fire information resource for land managers in Australia to your phone, allowing you to keep a constant eye on bushfire threats. You can view maps of satellite generated fire activity (hotspots) and burnt areas (fire scars) provided by the NAFI service. There’s a good summary back in March from Rohan Fisher on ABC Radio – Kimberley.

At a regional scale like this area in northern NT and WA, the NAFI app represents real-time hotspots through a heat map clustering algorithm.

Just to recap on how the app works behind the scenes to provide you with real-time fire information:

• The hotspot locations are updated several times a day and the fire scars are updated up to once or twice a week depending on fire conditions.
• The fire scars are produced by the NAFI Service and the hotspots are sourced from Landgate WA and Geoscience Australia.
• Base maps for imagery and topography can be downloaded for offline use in your region of interest, and then used for when you go outside of mobile data range.
• Burnt area mapping covers the Australian Savannas and rangelands that comprise around 70% of Australia, but does not cover NSW, VIC or the heavily populated regions of QLD, WA and SA.

So how popular is the NAFI app – well we can monitor a number of analytics using iOS AppStoreConnect and Google Play console, or the Firebase dashboard. These are configurable dashboards that can tell us things like how many installations occurred by day or week, how many are actively used, and filtered by operating system or device type. As of today, the iOS app has been downloaded 288 times since it’s initial release, and the Android version 142 times.

AppStoreConnect dashboard for the iOS NAFI app provides statistics of installations by week since the mid-February release.
Google Play Console shows the increase in installations of the Android NAFI app over time since the mid-February release.

We expect installations to continue upwards in the month of May and beyond, as more people on the ground become aware of the benefits and utility of the app. There are two phases of bushfire related activity  where the app can be useful, associated with the early Dry season burn programs and carbon (emission reduction) projects, and the late Dry season bushfire response.

The statistics are anonymised so we are not tracking personal information, but what the out-of-the-box analytics does help us to understand are the trends, and – along with ratings and word of mouth – we get a bit more insight into how people are reacting to the app. This can then feed into our strategy with clients on helping them target marketing campaigns and prioritise enhancements. We also utilise Firebase Crashlytics as a way of logging the details of any crashes and error messages received, and this really helps us get quickly to the root cause of a technical issue a particular user is experiencing.

Please be aware if you are using the app:

• Hotspot location on any map may only be accurate to within 1.5 km
• The hotspot symbol on the maps does not indicate the size of the fire
• Some fires may be small, brief, or obscured by smoke or cloud and go undetected
• Satellites detect other heat sources such as smokestacks

For more information visit: https://savannafiremapping.com/nafi-mobile-app/

If you would like to know more about our projects with the NAFI team, or want to strike up a conversation by sending me an email or getting in touch on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. 

Chris

The post The NAFI app is changing the way work is planned in the field appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Over the years we have developed quite a range of apps in the biodiversity, fire, parks and citizen science sectors.

In the citizen science sector, a number of our apps have helped scientists engage with citizenry to monitor and report sightings of species of interest in order to broaden their research input. Our most long-running partnership is with the River Guardians team in WA’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, where the Dolphin Watch app has enabled the monitoring of the small population of Indo-pacific bottle-nosed dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in Perth’s Swan and Canning River estuary. Over nearly a decade we have put enormous effort into supporting this significant program, where up to 1000 trained local citizens have contributed images, observations and surveys to the project. The project has since been extended to other sites in WA, such as Broome and Mandurah.

Two more recent project to aid species conservation were the I Spy Koala app, developed in 2019 for the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) for the collection of koala observation and survey data to improve the flow of Koala observation data into NSW planning and decisions tools; and Slug Sleuth, , an app that aims to help scientists, locals and visitors to collect observation data for slugs and snails within Mount Kaputar National Park and adjacent Nandewar Ranges within NSW, but especially the threatened Mt Kaputar giant pink slug (Triboniophorus< aff. graeffei).

Significantly, both these apps were developed to submit data to the NPWS BioSys repository. BioSys is an open-source, standards-based data management system built specifically for biological data. The system has a flexible data schema model that allows users to create a schema specific to the structure of their data, and that can apply to just about any biological and ecological data.

The Urban Wildlife app was developed for the NESP Clean Air and Urban Landcapes Hub, based primarily at the University of Melbourne, and contained multiple projects in which to record sightings of bell frogs, beneficial insects, flying foxes, or possums and gliders, usually across all states and territories in Australia.

Another take on the utility of apps – if they can help observe and conserve biodiversity, can they also assist in managing its major threatening processes? Here’s a couple of examples that we’ve brought into production in the last couple of years.

The NAFI Fire Information app brings the most used fire information resource for land managers in northern Australia to a mobile device, providing a constant eye on local bushfire threats.

And, the Essential Service Volunteers app helps volunteers automatically track the duration, location and type of work they undertook, an ID card service to show they’re an approved member of a legitimate volunteer essential service, and access to community discounts for firies and others essential volunteers.

And for the Wildcare Helpline app we worked with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) to develop an app that provides a service for the WA public who find sick or injured native wildlife and are seeking advice on where to find care for the animal.

We’ve also developed a number of apps along with DBCA and Trails WA to help the community enjoy the natural beauty of WA as well!. Camping Mate and Marine Parks WA are both DBCA apps aimed at ensuring the user maximises their experience of the Park facilities in WA, both on land ad water. And Trails WA provides detailed information – even when off-grid – to hikers hitting the extensive bike and walking tracks in WA.

And finally, it’s worth noting we also develop apps that have a very restricted purpose. The Mosquito Monitoring App is the first for the Atlas of Environmental Health (AEH). It was made specifically for the use of Environmental Health Officers within WA local governments. More recently, the AEH and the Mosquito Monitoring app have become useful in the Victorian health arena.

You can read more about our work on mobile apps over the last decade, or check out our current mobile apps in the Apple and Android app stores. (Other apps we’ve developed can be found on our client app stores.)

If you’re interested in how our mobile data collection apps could help your organisation, feel free to email me, or start a chat with us via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Alex

The post Our mobile apps – a recap appeared first on Gaia Resources.

New updates have been made to Slug Sleuth, an app that aims to help scientists, locals and visitors to collect observation data for slugs and snails within Mount Kaputar National Park and adjacent Nandewar Ranges within NSW. This recent release includes a refreshed user interface and an added feature to use pictures already stored on phone.

Screenshots from the Slug Sleuth app

The app is available for both Apple and Android devices, and you can see a range of our current mobile apps in the Apple and Android app stores. Other apps we’ve developed can be found on our client app stores.

If you’re interested in how our mobile data collection apps could help your organisation, feel free to email me, or start a chat with us via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Alex

The post Slug Sleuth mobile app updates appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Gaia Resources worked closely with the NAFI team to design and build the app, which you can now download onto your device from the Apple Store or Google Play Store.

The release coincides with the 2021 Savanna Fire Forum being run remotely from Darwin to over 150 participants.  Available for Android and iOS, the app enables land owners, indigenous rangers, conservation scientists, pastoralists and others to get near real-time fire information across 80% of the Australian continent. It is part of a bunch of support we have been providing to NAFI and other fire management groups in recent years (click here for a snapshot of previous blogs), and we are really excited about our contribution up in the Top End.

On the surface the app simply reflects the powerful data products available from the NAFI website that are already used extensively across projects and programs in the north of Australia to monitor savanna burning programs and bushfires.  Fire scars are displayed representing remotely sensed burnt areas coloured by the month of the fire, as are thermal hotspots detected from an array of satellites. These data layers are presented in an intuitive mapping interface with a small selection of base maps, location and compass direction functionality.

The NAFI app starts with a view of your region (left), presents a legend and layer selector (middle left), provides topo and imagery base maps (middle right) and near real-time hotpots (right).

In this initial release, the idea is to get the data out there onto mobile devices, and the NAFI team are keen to have that drive discussion about enhancements that will deliver high value to people working in the field and planning their fire management activities. This could be planners and rangers on carbon abatement programs focused on early dry season controlled burns, or community and government organisations battling raging bushfires, like the one that swept through 87,000 hectares of the World Heritage Listed Fraser Island last December (here is a link to the most recent article on that event).

An earlier test version of the app (left) during the December, 2020 Fraser Island fire. Image source: The Australian.

When you start using the app, you’ll notice a few little gems in there that are all focused on increasing the accessibility and usefulness of that NAFI data. So let’s start with the near real-time aspect:

• the app checks for updates regularly, with hotspots updated every 20 minutes on average, and fire scars updated 2-3 times per week,
• data is pulled down dynamically from the NAFI server and processed on AWS cloud-based infrastructure,
• the data is then automatically uploaded to the person’s device whenever they have the app running with a mobile data connection.

Next, let’s consider the offline capabilities:

• the app allows you to download base maps (OpenMapTiles imagery or NAFI’s Topographic map) for your region(s) of interest,
• you can continue to work outside of a mobile data connection, with the most recent fire scar and hotspot data from when you were last online and had the app running,
• the location marker and compass direction give you geographical context online or offline.

Hundreds of thousands of hotspots are rendered seamlessly using a heatmap algorithm. To overcome a performance constraint for mobile devices, we have devised a rendering algorithm that can render tens of thousands concurrent hotspot points across Australia into temporal heat map clusters. People using the app can get that regional view of hot spots and visualise three different fire age groupings in purple (0-6hrs), red (6-24hrs) and blue (24-48hrs). The app also features some high resolution fire scar mapping of the Darwin area sourced from Sentinel satellite imagery, as part of a trial implementation with BushfiresNT. The continental scale fire scar mapping is based on MODIS satellite imagery (250m resolution), so the new Sentinel based mapping based on much higher resolution imagery is an exciting new space to keep an eye on.

Being an initial release, the NAFI team are looking for feedback future versions, or just to hear what you think – there’s a direct feedback link in the app itself too. We’d also love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to reach out to us and start up a conversation by sending me an email or getting in touch on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. 

Chris

The post Fire information app launch appeared first on Gaia Resources.

AWS Case Study

AWS Summary Slide

An extract from the case study is below:

Late last year, we answered a call from the Association of Volunteer Bushfire Brigades of Western Australia, who were seeking a partner to help develop a proof of concept mobile app and web site that would support the volunteers fighting bushfires around WA. Then, in early 2020, funding became available to develop a much more fully-featured product, resulting in the Essential Service Volunteers (ESV) app, which was launched back in April.

Bushfire Volunteers WA worked closely with us to create a smartphone app that helps emergency services volunteers register, track activities, and access local merchant offers. The app:

• empowers volunteers to track activities for medical and employment reimbursement
• enables offline use with the ability to sync data when users go online again, and
• created an app with utility for all public emergency services

Our CEO, Piers Higgs, was quoted as saying:

Our hope is that this app will make the lives of bushfire volunteers easier and be adopted broadly throughout various public service agencies across Australia. Using the power of the AWS Cloud enables us to do so with security, scalability, and cost-efficiency that would not be possible any other way.

Being an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner, our team chose to build the app on the AWS Cloud. Using AWS means Bushfire Volunteers WA doesn’t have to manage infrastructure or pay for more capacity than it needs, and because bushfires are largely seasonal, it’s a solution that can scale up as volunteer brigades need to use it, and then scale back down again when the needs are less urgent.

Our implementation relies on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) to provide image and object storage, and uses Amazon CloudFront to speed content delivery. In addition, AWS Elastic Beanstalk automatically handles web app deployment, including capacity provisioning, load balancing, auto-scaling, and app health monitoring, further reducing management overhead for both Gaia Resources and the Association. The app also takes advantage of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) for foundational compute services and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for PostgreSQL for fully managed database service.

You can read more about our AWS strategy in recent blogs here and here and if you’d like to know more then please drop angus.mackay@gaiaresources.com.au a line, or connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Alex

The post Supporting Emergency Services appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Originally released by DBCA for iOS devices (iPhones and iPads) back in September, 2016, this free app provided information about the inshore marine parks along the WA coast. Parks Australia have since taken the opportunity to further enhance the app for users by providing additional information about the 24 offshore Australian Marine Parks beyond Western Australian waters.

So that is exactly what we have done, along with a slew of other enhancements including:

• an updated base map with Australian Marine Park boundaries,
• Australian Marine Park information, activities and wildlife,
• stunning new wildlife and marine park photographs,
• rich-text format changes to increase usability,
• hyperlinks to more resources like the Australian National Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching 2017, and
• support for the latest versions of iOS and Android operating systems.

The app – now available on both iOS and Android devices – makes it easy for people to plan their visits to marine parks off the WA coast, from the remote Mermaid Reef and Lalang-Garram / Camden Sound Marine Parks off the Kimberley coast, to Geographe and Bremer Marine Parks in the south. It contains comprehensive information about each marine park, along with 72 common marine wildlife species and species of conservation significance such as the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) and Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis).

Detailed information about wildlife species like the Southern Right Whale (left) and Green Turtle (right) can be accessed through the app, including the marine parks they call home and their conservation status.

All of the data is downloaded to your phone, allowing people to access marine park information at any time even when offline and outside of phone range (like on a boat)!

The app has a ‘where am I?’ function so park users can see on an interactive map which marine park zone they are in and what activities they can enjoy in each particular area.

The app provides information on permitted activities in marine parks like boating in King George River in the North Kimberley Marine Park (left) and diving in the Rowley Shoals Marine Park (right).

The tool promotes the diversity of recreational experiences in Western Australia’s many marine parks and it provides practical information about how to contact each park, how to get there and how to stay safe during visits.

Having been to a number of these marine parks in the past, I can see how useful it would have been to have easy access to this information for planning and enriching my experience while I’m there. The offline maps and content in particular I think extends the visitor’s ability to take advantage of what the parks have on offer, and to appreciate the wildlife and physical beauty of these locations.

It is easy and free to upload the Marine Parks WA app to your phone or tablet, just head over to these DBCA links on the Apple Store or Google Play Store.

If you’d like to know more about how we can help you with developing a mobile application or ideas for future enhancements for the app, please leave a comment below, connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, or email me directly via chris.roach@gaiaresources.com.au.

Chris

The post Marine Parks WA app gets an uplift appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Of course, Covid-19 caused a number of disruptions for both our staff and the client. For the Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades of WA, regular brigade meetings were interrupted and so word of mouth knowledge of the app was impacted. For Gaia Resources ESV App team, going to lock-down to keep everyone safe made it somewhat harder to collaborate on ESV Stage 2. But by no means impossible! Gaia Resources management quickly responded to comprehensively support working from home and so development continued at a good pace.

Screenshots from the ESV app

During this stage, our development team also commenced work the web-based administrative portal to manage volunteers, brigades, businesses and the reporting of data. The admin portal is looking to be in a usable state this week and has just been presented to the clients for comment. Work will then continue for the near future to make it even better for all parties.

Bunbury Volunteer Bushfire Brigade – Cadets (photo courtesy AVBFBWA)

For more detailed information about the ES Volunteers App, including usage instructions and information for suppliers that would like to list a special offer for volunteers, please visit www.esvolunteers.org.au — help these guys help our community.

If you’re interested in how mobile data collection apps could help your organisation, feel free to comment below, contact me at angus.mackay@gaiaresources.com.au, or start a chat via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Wishing you all well in this trying time and hope you are keeping safe.

Gus

The post Essential Service Volunteers App update appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Then, in early 2020, funding became available to develop a much more fully-featured product, resulting in the Essential Service Volunteers (ESV) app, which was quietly published in the last two weeks.  The app is free to download, but full functionality is only available for users who volunteer for an essential service that has an active subscription.

Screenshots from the ESV app

This new app is an indispensable tool for volunteers who provide essential services such as firefighters, paramedics, surf lifesavers and search and rescue personnel and is free to use for all volunteers of registered essential services (although there are costs associated with other services outside of the Bush Fire Volunteers joining up with the app).  Managers of Bush Fire Volunteer Brigades that are not yet registered should contact ES Volunteers to discuss how to get set up.

Key features of the app include:

• a virtual ID card that proves the user is a currently registered and approved member of a legitimate volunteer essential service,
• the ability for the user to log the duration, location and type of work volunteers undertake,
• support for the Brigade Captains and Local Government officers to obtain statistics around the volunteering efforts of their Brigade, and
• the provision of discounts and deals offered exclusively to volunteers by nearby businesses.

As well as providing this valuable information to volunteers and important general statistics for their whole service, if a user chooses to log their GPS coordinates while at an incident, the record may be useful as evidence in future health, employment, reimbursement or other claims.

Businesses and other suppliers ranging from small regional coffee shops, mechanical repairers and hotels to multinational retailers can list discounts and offers exclusively for the volunteers, with the ability to choose which volunteers have access to their offer. Suppliers can choose who sees their offer by location, service type and later, even by specific Brigade.

A second phase of development that is underway already will provide a more comprehensive web app allowing volunteer users to manage their details, generate free reports of time spent, and the location and types of work undertaken. The web app will also enable authorised volunteer Brigade leaders to add and verify the volunteer users within their team.

So, what next?

• If you are in charge of an existing Bush Fire Brigade, then visit the ES Volunteers website to register your Brigade, which will require you to provide listings of your volunteers, so that they can start using the app,
• If you are a Bush Fire volunteer (and once your Brigade Captain has set up your Brigade) you can download the app to your device from the Google Play or the iTunes App Store,
• If you are involved in a different service than the Bush Fire Volunteers (e.g. ambulance, etc) then visit the ES Volunteers website to get more details about the small set-up fee and annual service charge, and to get started.

Hundreds of Bushfire Volunteers are already registered and using the app, including a number of whole Brigades, and we’ve already delivered an update with additional features – with more to come as we get feedback from the volunteers.

If you’re interested in how mobile data collection apps could help your organisation, feel free to comment below, contact Angus Mackay, or start a chat with us via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Alex

The post Essential Service Volunteers App appeared first on Gaia Resources.

The app is now live for both Android and iOS and we were fortunate enough to have the NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean launch the app over the past weekend in conjunction with the announcement of a new koala hospital in Port Stephens.

I Spy Koala splash screen

We will continue to support and promote open source and the collaboration opportunities it allows for BioSys and our other systems into the future.

You can download the app from here for iOS or Android if you would like to try it out (and have some nearby koalas!).

If you’re interested in how BioSys, or mobile data collection apps, could help your organisation, then feel free to contact me, or start a chat with us via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Andrew

The post I Spy Koala App is Live appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Once the Terms and Conditions are accepted, one can call an emergency hotline, find out more information about notifiable diseases, or start filling out a new notification. As the info link tells us “Early recognition of a serious or exotic animal disease is one of the most important factors influencing the chance of controlling the disease and reducing economic and social impact on the whole community.”

   
The Home page of the app (left) provides a number of resources to start a notification, find out more information or provide feedback. A graphic based pick list (right) allows for quick selection of an animal type before moving to the next step in the workflow.

Our client Sally Salmon at the Chief Veterinary Officer’s Unit, gives us the back story:

“Agriculture Victoria engaged Gaia Resources to develop a smart phone app that would allow users to easily and quickly notify the Department of the presence or suspicion of notifiable animal diseases. The app is primarily directed to vets, but it can also be used by animal owners, primary producers, livestock agents and other people who work with animals.”

“The key parts of the app are the ability to call the Exotic Animal Disease hotline, add geo-located pictures to the submission, and include all the details required under the Livestock Disease Control Act 1994.  The information goes directly to the Chief Veterinary Officer’s Unit email inbox.”

   
The map and geocoding feature (left) reduces time to enter address details; and the form entry details – which include pick lists and conditional field display (right) – are compiled along with photographs into an email notification. 

“The development included testing phases with a large number of Agriculture Victoria staff.

The app is available now on the App Store and Google Play, just search for ‘Notify Now’.”

“More information on notifiable diseases is available at the AgVic web site, http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/pests-diseases-and-weeds/animal-diseases/notifiable-diseases.”

We are looking forward to seeing how vets and animal owners across Victoria think of the app and how much easier it makes reporting over the manual PDF form download approach. As with so many professions, it makes a big difference if you can apply some technological smarts to help people ‘find time’ and focus on their core work. This includes time saved by the staff at DJPR who can quickly act on a submitted notification.

As a side note, our team has increasingly been working on Health-related projects, and in this context – I would just like to draw attention to the interrelationships between human health, environmental health and animal health. It has been interesting to pick up through discussions and research that a “One Health” concept is seen as an important component of an effective and holistic health system; that we need to consider the health of our animals and food chain, as well as the health of the environment we live in.

In time we would like to help government agencies develop analytics capabilities by integrating these systems that might ‘live’ in different agencies or beyond their own servers, to share these different datasets and to monitor trends and relationships. Some of our clients are already reaching out to use technology to do this, and we looking forward to working with them to achieve their objectives.

Feel free to drop send me an email if you want to find out more, or start a conversation with us on social media via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Chris

The post Notify Now – Victoria launches its Animal Disease Notification App appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Perhaps you enjoy spending your leisure time in nature? Does playing games online strikes your fancy? Are you thrilled about another activity or cause? Do you love science communication?  Perhaps you are considering exploring citizen science as an avenue to follow your passions, but where do you start? Before you dive into creating a new group or project, it’s worth exploring what groups, resources and projects already exist.  If you haven’t found the prefect project to jump straight into and you are game to create one, then it’s worth considering if there are already online platforms that can assist you with your project – and I have seen quite a few of the platforms around the world from the #CitSci2019 conference!

If your project involves collecting observations of nature and then entering them online, the citsci.org platform offers this functionality for projects in the United States. The citsci.org leaders also ran symposium that explored funding models of different organisations running large scale projects. The room was absolutely packed, which clearly demonstrated to me the struggle we all have with sustainably funding long-term projects!

"Exploring Sustainable Funding Models for #CitizenScience" #CitSci2019 Symposium was packed yesterday! I think this speaks to #citsci funding struggles being ubiquitous. Nice job Greg Newman & Russell Scarpino (@CitSci), Luigi Ceccaroni (@Earthwatch_Eur), & Dixon Butler (@ylaces) pic.twitter.com/0Y0sd28kQF

— Jessie Oliver (@JessieLOliver) March 16, 2019

If you are interested in kicking off a project that entails online tasks, such as transcription of datasheets or classification of media such as images, audio, and video, then it’s worth checking out the project builder on the Zooniverse platform. The Zooniverse currently hosts nearly a hundred online projects focused on several areas of science and some even overlapping with humanities. I was thrilled that #CitSci2019 gave me the opportunity to learn more about this platform in the context of my own technology design research on how to design engaging technologies to search environmental audio recordings to find Eastern bristlebirds.

A sample prototype page from Jessie’s research that she shared during her talks and networking

Of course, Gaia Resources has also been developing their own citizen science toolkit, called Project Hydra, and has used this to deliver many citizen science apps like these.  The nearest Australian equivalent is the BioCollect platform developed by folks with the Atlas of Living Australia, which is a biodiversity data repository.  The Gaia Resources team (especially Piers and Alex) are keeping an eye on all the platforms that are out there and can certainly help advise people on the available tools.

What if existing tools and platforms don’t do what you need?  If you have a vision for a project, but you don’t have access to the technologies needed to make your project a reality then there is nothing to stop you from starting – time to get brainstorming!

There is a lot of talk within the citizen science community about the strategies of citizen science project design strategies, and it’s certainly important to consider what strategy is best for your project idea and your anticipated community. Most projects in Australia are led by scientists and engage citizen scientists to contribute data or analysis skills. Another less common but important strategy is when projects are driven by members of the public who then recruit scientists to contribute expertise to ensure a project is developed in a scientifically rigorous way. Other projects are also cooperatively created, or co-created, with scientists and community members working together from the start.

As you begin to think about technological needs, it is similarly important to consider who is going to be involved in creating technologies, at what stages, how, and why. Typically, technologies for citizen science are often envisioned by scientists who have the aim of solving specific scientific riddles. If scientists are creating technologies in isolation, focused on their scientific objectives, they may not always be well positioned to determine whom might use their technologies, as well as where, how, and when. Are scientists well positioned to study people’s practices, tech use habits, or hobby motivations well beyond the science? Sometimes, sure, particularly if we are talking about social scientists and anthropologists; however, scientists focused on solving ecological woes may not always have time or knowledge to study people’s requirements too. Conversely, community members without any scientific training may not have the background to inform developing technology in ways that will lead to scientifically rigorous outcomes. So, what is a person to do?!

This is where technology designers can help! Folks like myself, trained in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) design, can work with both scientists and community members to explore alignment of interests and goals. Contrary to what most people imagine when I describe my work in technology design, I spend my days studying people, often taking an ethnography research approach with a high level of empathy, to understand people’s practices, motivations for activities, technology use, and more. Most people start considering questions such as:

• Does my project idea require field devices to complete tasks or collect data?
• Does my project need an online data portal?
• Does my project require a mobile application?
• What should such technologies look like?

Before diving into these questions too deeply, however, I typically take a bit step back and consider a different suite of questions first, including:

• Who do I anticipate will be core contributors to a project?
• What evidence do I have to support this?
• Is there a way we could understand this better before creating anything?
• How can existing practices of anticipated participants inform the design of project technologies?

Beyond creating new projects, it’s also important to consider how existing technologies like application and website interfaces might benefit from a facelift. I am particularly keen to also help folks explore re-designing existing technology iteratively (i.e. design, evaluate use, improve design, re-evaluate, repeat). To do this I come from a slightly different angle, working with folks using the technologies to identify barriers to use, ways to extend accessibility, techniques to enhance short and long-term use integration, reaching citizen science groups, and more.

This is the sort of role that we have been discussing for Gaia Resources, to bring my HCI expertise (and of course, Morgan’s accessibility expertise) into the future of the citizen science offerings from the company.  It will be exciting times (when I get back to Australia!).

Now we have a platform designed and technologies chosen, how do I make sure my project’s data is useable for others?

Welcome to the exciting world of data and metadata! Don’t know the difference between the two? Yeah, neither did I until a few years ago.  If you would like more information, this blog from some of our European colleagues does a pretty good job at breaking down data, metadata (data about data), the importance of standardising data, and the ability to exchange data between different databases (i.e. data interoperability).

Groups around the globe are working together to create standards for citizen science data to maximise its usefulness, and to ensure data can be exchanged between the different databases around the world. Being involved in these discussions for several years now, I attended several meetings, talks, and workshops related to advancing these efforts. Stay tuned as this diverse group is currently exploring how to get more information out there to everybody.

Co-chairs Greg Newman (left) and Justin Schell (left) leading a discussion on data and metadata

What if other people are investigating the same general topic, but using different methods?

It’s an ideal scenario for creating an online ‘one-stop-shop’ for people to find and discuss a suite of methods being used. Then newcomers can also explore what methods are out there and most likely to work in their respective regions with a given population of people. If the methods shared need some tweaking to work in a new region or with new people, than iterative adaptations can then be shared back into the group for others to use.

It is this idea that is the basis of the developing consortium called Global Mosquito Alert, which aims to bring mosquito monitoring citizen science methods together.  Over the last few years, I have looked to understand what mosquito monitoring projects engage citizen scientists and how in Australia, and have liaised between those groups and the global consortium. While at #CitSci2019, I was asked to join a panel discussing how the Global Mosquito Alert consortium folks exchange knowledge, and how the consortium are likely to work with the develop Citizen Science Global Partnership and Earth Challenge 2020 initiatives.  It’s wonderful to see so many people working together from around the world to harness technology to increase the impact of citizen science!

If you are interested in more discussion about citizen science and technology, don’t hesitate to let me or other folks at Gaia Resources know (via their social media channels or directly through to Piers or Alex).  We’ve got plans afoot at Gaia Resources around technology and design that Piers and I will be discussing when I am back from this trip so stay tuned for more from us on technology and citizen science!

Jessie

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There’s no substitute for face-to-face time when you want to learn about your client’s business and state of mind. By meeting with the public health entomologist, epidemiologists and analytics officers in the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control team I was able to learn a lot about business context and challenges around data, systems and reporting, and also the relationship between communicable diseases and on-ground mosquito monitoring activities. Fortnightly reporting and access to solid, accurate data is critical to fortnightly reporting and managing risk across a range of infections and diseases. Somehow the emails we are so used to using and phone calls boil down to just what you need to know for an immediate task or issue. The context can easily be lost, or not fully translated compared to when you are physically present and seeing what your clients are dealing with.

This trip didn’t have a field excursion like the one we did back in 2017 (see link to that blog here), but just as interesting I was able to sit down with an analytics officer and see how DHHS are tapping into the Atlas and other systems to build up their reporting outputs through PowerBI. Part of our latest phase of work with these guys to build an Application Programming Interface (API) so that analytics packages could draw data from the Atlas and combine that with other Health systems data (e.g. health facilities and their capacity to deal with outbreaks).

The fortnightly reports are part of critical presentations that senior officials in DHHS use to make strategic decisions for the health of Victorians and their facilities. Apart from keeping an eye out for Ross River Virus, health departments in Australia need to monitor for Murray Valley encephalitis virus,  Barmah Forest virus and dengue virus. Lately, Buruli – known as the Bairnsdale ulcer in Victoria, and the Daintree ulcer in Queensland –  has been making the news in Victoria (click here for the Victorian health alert). It is an infection caused by a flesh eating bacteria called Mycobacterium ulcerans that has been on the increase in parts of coastal Victoria,  and the primary theory is that the virus is transmitted by mosquitoes.

Map of Buruli ulcer risk in Victoria (source: Health Victoria alert 18002).

Not all mosquito species carry diseases of course – in most cases they are just an itchy nuisance; however, it is through monitoring, trapping and laboratory species identification that health officials can spot an impending risk of particular species breeding who may carry these viruses. Through the Atlas of Environmental Health we help DHHS to use visualise the location, clustering and temporal patterns of data regularly collected in the field.

The biggest component of our recent phase of work though has been a new Ground Surveillance Module (GSM) mobile application.  The GSM module – currently being tested – focuses on rapidly inspecting and collecting data on breeding sites at a property level. The app has features and a workflow designed for a minimal click experience – like responsive screen progression, GPS based reverse geocoding (a fancy term for pre-populating a property address), and geotagged photographs.

  
Through simple design the app is getting a neat refresh, which includes reverse geocoding

This GSM app will in future incorporate the adult trapping, larval dipping and public complaint functions currently used in our mosquito monitoring app – bringing the existing functionality into a more flexible and easier to maintain application framework. With mobile technology maturing we wanted to ensure that DHHS was able to take advantage of the new features that are on offer. The most significant of these is parallel platform development for iOS and Android, which results in efficiency savings in development and maintenance.

With the GSM app, local government Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) will be able to capture locations of potential breeding sites through property inspections along with information about whether mosquito larvae are present and whether a treatment was applied. In some cases this would be as basic as removing the water source from a bucket or pot, while in others the EHO may be able to apply a treatment or need to return at a later date.  The rapid entry of data is all about increasing capacity of the EHOs to cover more ground, and to generate a more accurate and timely picture of what is happening across their local area. Larvae breeding in a backyard pond or container typically mature in about 2-3 weeks, after which time a different and trickier treatment type is required, so the app and increased coverage is important for DHHS to manage threats of a disease outbreak. As with risks in most disciplines, if you can identify it early you have more choices about mitigation before it turns into an issue.

 
Simple designs using icons and graphics to streamline data capture is very important for efficient use of the app

If you think about what the EHOs are doing as they visit properties, the rapid data entry gives them time to be more public facing and to engage with people in a useful conversation about preventative measures. They can take the time to show residents and business owners where mosquito breeding can happen, and simple approaches to prevent standing water from turning into a problem. Overturning empty buckets and pots, and keeping pool and pond water circulating over winter for instance, can go a long way to avoid both the unpleasant barbecue experience and serious health problems.

So through this latest phase of work we have added a new app for field data collection and have built an API for connecting the Atlas of Environmental Health to other analytics packages. I think 2019 is going to be an interesting time in this space as we look to solidify these tools and ramp up capabilities in data collection and risk reporting. If you’d like to know more about this topic, strike up a conversation with us on our Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn accounts – or drop us a line on (08) 9227 7309 or email me on chris.roach@gaiaresources.com.au.

Chris

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