scholarly journals DesPat: Smartphone-based Object Detection for Citizen Science and Urban Surveys

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Getschmann ◽  
Florian Echtler
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Object Detection ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Traffic Patterns ◽  
Pedestrian Tracking ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Pedestrian Traffic

Data acquisition is a central task in research and one of the largest opportunities for citizen science. Especially in urban surveys investigating traffic and people flows, extensive manual labor is required, occasionally augmented by smartphones. We present DesPat, an app designed to turn a wide range of low-cost Android phones into a privacy-respecting camera-based pedestrian tracking tool to automatize data collection. This data can then be used to analyze pedestrian traffic patterns in general, and identify crowd hotspots and bottlenecks, which are particularly relevant in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic.All image analysis is done locally on the device through a convolutional neural network, thereby avoiding any privacy concerns or legal issues regarding video surveillance. We show example heatmap visualizations from deployments of our prototype in urban areas and compare performance data for a variety of phones to discuss suitability of on-device object detection for our usecase of pedestrian data collection.

scholarly journals DesPat: Smartphone-Based Object Detection for Citizen Science and Urban Surveys

i-com ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-139
Author(s):  
Christopher Getschmann ◽  
Florian Echtler
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Object Detection ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Traffic Patterns ◽  
Pedestrian Tracking ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Pedestrian Traffic

Abstract Data acquisition is a central task in research and one of the largest opportunities for citizen science. Especially in urban surveys investigating traffic and people flows, extensive manual labor is required, occasionally augmented by smartphones. We present DesPat, an app designed to turn a wide range of low-cost Android phones into a privacy-respecting camera-based pedestrian tracking tool to automatize data collection. This data can then be used to analyze pedestrian traffic patterns in general, and identify crowd hotspots and bottlenecks, which are particularly relevant in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. All image analysis is done locally on the device through a convolutional neural network, thereby avoiding any privacy concerns or legal issues regarding video surveillance. We show example heatmap visualizations from deployments of our prototype in urban areas and compare performance data for a variety of phones to discuss suitability of on-device object detection for our usecase of pedestrian data collection.

scholarly journals Evaluation of an Easy-to-Install, Low-Cost Dendrometer Band for Citizen-Science Tree Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-322
Author(s):  
Michael G Just ◽  
Steven D Frank
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Acer Rubrum ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Stem Growth ◽  
Growth Monitoring ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Highly Correlated

AbstractTree-stem growth is an important metric for evaluating many ecological and silvicultural research questions. However, answering these questions may require monitoring growth on many individual trees that span changing environments and geographies, which can incur significant costs. Recently, citizen science has been successfully employed as a cost-effective approach to collect data for large-scale projects that also increases scientific awareness. Still, citizen-science-led tree-growth monitoring requires the use of tools that are affordable, understandable, and accurate. Here, we compare an inexpensive, easy-to-install dendrometer band to two other bands that are more expensive with more complex installations. We installed a series of three dendrometers on 31 red maples (Acer rubrum) in two urban areas in the eastern United States. We found that the stem-growth measurements reported by these dendrometers were highly correlated and, thus, validate the utility of the inexpensive band.

scholarly journals A Printable Device for Measuring Clarity and Colour in Lake and Nearshore Waters

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Brewin ◽  
Thomas Brewin ◽  
Joseph Phillips ◽  
Sophie Rose ◽  
Anas Abdulaziz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Secchi Depth ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
3D Printer ◽  
Satellite Validation ◽  
Wide Range

Two expanding areas of science and technology are citizen science and three-dimensional (3D) printing. Citizen science has a proven capability to generate reliable data and contribute to unexpected scientific discovery. It can put science into the hands of the citizens, increasing understanding, promoting environmental stewardship, and leading to the production of large databases for use in environmental monitoring. 3D printing has the potential to create cheap, bespoke scientific instruments that have formerly required dedicated facilities to assemble. It can put instrument manufacturing into the hands of any citizen who has access to a 3D printer. In this paper, we present a simple hand-held device designed to measure the Secchi depth and water colour (Forel Ule scale) of lake, estuarine and nearshore regions. The device is manufactured with marine resistant materials (mostly biodegradable) using a 3D printer and basic workshop tools. It is inexpensive to manufacture, lightweight, easy to use, and accessible to a wide range of users. It builds on a long tradition in optical limnology and oceanography, but is modified for ease of operation in smaller water bodies, and from small watercraft and platforms. We provide detailed instructions on how to build the device and highlight examples of its use for scientific education, citizen science, satellite validation of ocean colour data, and low-cost monitoring of water clarity, colour and temperature.

scholarly journals A Low-Cost Wireless Temperature Sensor: Evaluation for Use in Environmental Monitoring Applications

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 938-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duick T. Young ◽  
Lee Chapman ◽  
Catherine L. Muller ◽  
Xiao-Ming Cai ◽  
C. S. B. Grimmond
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Platinum Resistance ◽  
Dense Network ◽  
Radiation Shield ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Monitoring Applications

Abstract A wide range of environmental applications would benefit from a dense network of air temperature observations. However, with limitations of costs, existing siting guidelines, and risk of damage, new methods are required to gain a high-resolution understanding of spatiotemporal patterns of temperature for agricultural and urban meteorological phenomena such as the urban heat island. With the launch of a new generation of low-cost sensors, it is possible to deploy a network to monitor air temperature at finer spatial resolutions. This study investigates the Aginova Sentinel Micro (ASM) sensor with a custom radiation shield (together less than USD$150) that can provide secure near-real-time air temperature data to a server utilizing existing (or user deployed) Wi-Fi networks. This makes it ideally suited for deployment where wireless communications readily exist, notably urban areas. Assessment of the performance of the ASM relative to traceable standards in a water bath and atmospheric chamber show it to have good measurement accuracy with mean errors <±0.22°C between −25° and 30°C, with a time constant in ambient air of 110 ±15 s. Subsequent field tests also showed the ASM (in the custom shield) had excellent performance (RMSE = 0.13°C) over a range of meteorological conditions relative to a traceable operational Met Office platinum resistance thermometer. These results indicate that the ASM and radiation shield are more than fit for purpose for dense network deployment in environmental monitoring applications at relatively low cost compared to existing observation techniques.

scholarly journals Citizen Sensing: An Action-Orientated Framework for Citizen Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saskia Coulson ◽  
Mel Woods ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmental Challenges ◽  
European Project ◽  
Citizen Sensing ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Future Practice

Citizen Sensing, a correlative of Citizen Science, employs low-cost sensors to evidence local environmental issues and empowers citizens to use the data they collect. Whilst motivations for participation can vary, communities affected by pollution frequently have changemaking as their goal. Social innovation is closely aligned with citizen sensing, however the process of co-creating practices and solutions with citizens who wish to shape their world can be highly complex to design. Therefore, our research articulates an action-orientated framework which emerges from a 2-year pan European project by which follow-on communities may replicate sensing initiatives more easily. The authors examine five studies and explore the cross-cutting principles, phases, stakeholders, methods, and challenges which form this framework. The authors argue that whilst data collection and data awareness are crucial to the citizen sensing process, there are precursory and subsequent stages which are necessary to equip citizens to address complex environmental challenges and take action on them. Therefore, this paper focuses on the stages and methods which are distinctive to citizen sensing. It concludes with recommendations for future practice for citizen sensing and citizen science.

scholarly journals Reducing post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables for ensuring food security – Case of Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Leelananda Rajapaksha ◽  
DMC Champathi Gunathilake ◽  
SM Pathirana ◽  
TN Fernando
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Fruit And Vegetables ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Post Harvest ◽  
Wide Range

In Sri Lanka, 70% of 21 million population live in non-urban areas, and agriculture provides livelihood for approximately 40% of them. The agricultural marketing process in the country is a complex operation due to services and functions involved in moving a crop product from where it was produced to where it would finally be consumed. Further, with a wide range of agricultural crops being produced, post-harvest handling process create different degrees of quantitative and qualitative losses in a complex market chain, which are estimated at 20% to 40% for vegetables and 30% - 40% for fruits. Improper and non-scientific post-harvest practices and handling, gaps in integration of cold chain practices & elements with post-harvest process, and lack of knowledge & awareness on many related aspects at grass root farmer level etc. appear to contribute to losses that finally prevent due economic benefits reaching the small-scale producer. In order to increase the effectiveness of post-harvest process handling of fruit and vegetables, appropriate corrective measures targeting small scale producers as well as commercial scale producers need to be popularized and practiced. At small scale producer level, promotion of appropriate low-cost post-harvest practices and procedures, facilitating low-cost cold chain elements and user-friendly information flow mechanism on market situation would certainly help avoid some of the steps that lead to losses. Monitoring system of commercial post-harvest handling process that ensure scientific bulk handling, storage and transportation of fruit and vegetables, properly designed economic centers with well regulated environmentcontrolled storages etc. would greatly reduce loses in bulk handling, ensuring better food security in the island.

Assessment of heterogenity of air pollution within an urban canopy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien Voss ◽  
K. Heinke Schlünzen ◽  
David Grawe
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Urban Canopy ◽  
Limit Values ◽  
Data Standard ◽  
The City

<p>Air pollution is an important topic within urban areas.  Limit values as given in the European Guidelines are introduced to reduce negative effects on humans and vegetation.  Exceedances of the limit values are to be assessed using measurements.  In case of found exceedances of the limit values, the local authorities need to act to reduce pollution levels. Highest values are found for several pollutants (NOx, NO2, particles) within densely build-up urban areas with traffic emissions being the major source and dispersion being very much impacted by the urban structures.  The quality assured measuring network used by the authorities is often too coarse to determine the heterogeneity in the concentration field. Low cost sample devices as employed in several citizen science projects might help to overcome the data sparsity. Volunteers measure the air quality at many sites, contribute to the measurement networks and provide the data on the web. However, the questions arising are: a) Are these data of sufficient high quality to provide results comparable to those of the quality assured networks? b) Is the network density sufficient to determine concentration patterns within the urban canopy layer? <br>One-year data from a citizen science network, which measures particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5) were compared to measurements provided by the local environmental agency, using two hot-spot areas in the city of Hamburg as an example. To determine how well the measurements agree with each other, a regression analyses was performed dependent on seasonal and diurnal cycles. Additionally, model simulations with the microscale obstacle resolving model MITRAS were performed for two characteristic building structures and different meteorological situations. The model results were used to determine local hot spots as well as areas where measurements might represent the concentration of particles for the urban quarter. The low cost sensor measurements show a general agreement to the city’s measurements, however, the values per sensor differ. Moreover, the measurements of the low-cost-sensor show an unrealistic dependence on relative humidity, resulting in over- or underestimations in certain cases. The model results clearly show that only a few sites allow measurements to be representative for a city quarter. The measurements of the citizen science project can provide a good overview about the tendencies of the air quality, but are currently not of sufficient quality to provide measurements calling for legal action.</p><p>The model results were used for the project AtMoDat. AtMoDat is an attempt to create a data standard for obstacle resolving models based on the existing Climate and Forecast (CF) conventions. A web-based survey is developed to get information on the requirements for the data standard. The next step is to extend the collection of model characteristics and eventually to provide a generic scheme.</p><p><strong>Acknowledgements</strong><br>This work contributes to project “AtMoDat” funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the funding number 16QK02C. Responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors.</p>

Scientific data from and for the citizen

First Monday ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Schade ◽  
Chrisa Tsinaraki ◽  
Elena Roglia
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Data Access ◽  
General Information ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Data Preservation ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Wide Range

Powered by advances of technology, today’s Citizen Science projects cover a wide range of thematic areas and are carried out from local to global levels. This wealth of activities creates an abundance of data, for example, in the forms of observations submitted by mobile phones; readings of low-cost sensors; or more general information about peoples’ activities. The management and possible sharing of this data has become a research topic in its own right. We conducted a survey in the summer of 2015 in order to collectively analyze the state of play in Citizen Science. This paper summarizes our main findings related to data access, standardization and data preservation. We provide examples of good practices in each of these areas and outline actions to address identified challenges.

scholarly journals INVESTIGATION OF LANE–LEVEL GNSS POSITIONING OF VEHICLE IN URBAN AREA

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Daulet Akhmedov ◽  
Meirbek Moldabekov ◽  
Denis Yeryomin ◽  
Dinara Zhaxygulova ◽  
Rimma Kaliyeva
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Transportation Systems ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Reference Station ◽  
Differential Correction ◽  
Navigation Data ◽  
Gnss Positioning ◽  
Wide Range

High quality GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) positioning can be useful for numerous engineering tasks, for example, in transport applications concerned to monitoring and optimization of road traffic. In this case lane-level positioning is a relevant task and its solution should satisfy a wide range of users, and thus should be low-cost and easy to use. In this paper the solution of accurate GNSS positioning of the car with the use of differential correction of navigation data in order to provide positioning by the lane level in urban areas of Kazakhstan is investigated. A smartphone is considered as low-cost navigation aid. Navigation data obtained using a smartphone were differentially corrected using the developed software of the Control System for Reference GNSS Station Network relative to one reference station. It is shown that using a smartphone as a navigation aid with further differential correction of data relative to one reference station allows positioning vehicles in motion with an error of 1.4 meters. The result is valuable as a basis for developing intelligent transportation systems.

Biscogniauxia (Hypoxylon) Canker or Dieback in Trees

EDIS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Paez ◽  
Jason A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Soil Compaction ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Root Disease ◽  
Poor Health ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Opportunistic Pathogens ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Quercus Spp

Biscogniauxia canker or dieback (formerly called Hypoxylon canker or dieback) is a common contributor to poor health and decay in a wide range of tree species (Balbalian & Henn 2014). This disease is caused by several species of fungi in the genus Biscogniauxia (formerly Hypoxylon). B. atropunctata or B. mediterranea are usually the species found on Quercus spp. and other hosts in Florida, affecting trees growing in many different habitats, such as forests, parks, green spaces and urban areas (McBride & Appel, 2009).  Typically, species of Biscogniauxia are opportunistic pathogens that do not affect healthy and vigorous trees; some species are more virulent than others. However, once they infect trees under stress (water stress, root disease, soil compaction, construction damage etc.) they can quickly colonize the host. Once a tree is infected and fruiting structures of the fungus are evident, the tree is not likely to survive especially if the infection is in the tree's trunk (Anderson et al., 1995).

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