SPOTTERON FOUR PREVIEW - A new generation of Citizen Science Apps is on the horizon

The SPOTTERON platform is always extending and together with projects across Europe, Australia, America, and Africa, new features and functionalities are constantly developed. With a new set of major core extensions and the overhaul of important system-related functionalities, the new platform version, SPOTTERON FOUR, brings new innovative tools an...
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Sharing the Soundscapes: Audio Recording in Citizen Science Apps

Audio Recording in Citizen Science App
Besides the visual component of a Citizen Science observation, in some projects, recording audio is as important. From bird songs to amphibian calls, from city noise to dialects - sound recordings offer a distinct form of data in natural science projects, in linguistic citizen science, or even in capturing reports about environmental quality. ...
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Automated Reports from Citizen Science Apps about occuring observations

Sensitive topics like invasive alien species can lead to challenges when utilizing Citizen Science and public involvement. Observations can be time-sensitive, like disaster reports, or topic-sensitive, like controlled pests in agricultural monitoring. Some data categories even include legal requirements, like in the latter example, where new sighti...
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New Video! An introduction to the SPOTTERON Citizen Science App Platform

In the course of our submission to the current "EU Prize for Citizen Science", we have produced a new video as an introduction to the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform. The clip showcases the core aspects of what the platform brings to Citizen Science projects across Europe and beyond. As an interactive toolkit, every Citizen Science App not only ...
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Custom Project User Roles in Citizen Science Apps

It is often the case in Citizen Science Apps that participants have different levels of experience, tools, or knowledge levels. Examples of this can emerge in many research topics, from experts on species classification to people with measuring equipment. With the new SPOTTERON platform feature "User Roles," we have created the basis for an extenda...
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New Direct Communication Tools for Citizen Science Apps: User Message Boards

User-to-user communication and project-to-user communication are essential parts of modern interactive Citizen Science. In the new platform update, we extend the already present features in all Apps on the SPOTTERON platform with another significant upgrade: User Message Boards. Exchanging messages, enabling discussion Being able to contact each ot...
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How to work with young people in Citizen Science? - Complying with privacy laws and parental consent requirements in Apps

In many Citizen Science Apps, participants are younger than 16 or 18 years of age. From educational school-based projects to including the youth in workshops, feedback, or data collection: the engagement of younger people is often at the core of Citizen Science projects. To invite underaged children to be active in a digital tool like Citizen ...
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Working together with the Community for better Data Validation in Citizen Science Apps

One of the often very time-intensive tasks when running a Citizen Science project is the validation of the gathered data. Is the user-provided information correct? Does the species classification work out? Is the location correct? The complexity of this task grows with the success of a Citizen Science project. When hundreds of new contribution...
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Map Types for Citizen Science Apps

In Citizen Science Apps, the map often plays a central role. On SPOTTERON, different map types stand ready for every participant to use as a personal choice and for supporting correct locations when submitting data in the App.  We are always at some place - and the map in a Citizen Science App reflects this connection. In Citizen Science,...
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Does Data Validation improve with the community's help in Citizen Science Apps?

The new "Community Data Validation" Feature on the SPOTTERON Platform allows Citizen Scientists to be more deeply involved in the scientific process. The feature update in the ClimateWatch App by Earthwatch Australia allows users not only to submit observations but also to assess the accuracy and support the observations of...
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EBW - A New App for Monitoring Biodiversity in Agriculture on the SPOTTERON Platform

"EBW" stands for "Ergebnisorientierte Bewirtschaftung" ("result-oriented management") and is a highly specialized app for farmers and agriculturists to increase biodiversity in Austrian agricultural and natural landscapes. It serves to agree on concrete results or goals as part of an inspection of agricultural areas by experts, which are to be achi...
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Spatial Data Recording for Citizen Science Apps

SPOTTERON Spatial Data in Citizen Science
Many Citizen Science and User Engagement projects utilize more than only point data for locations and spatial dimensions. Examples are plentiful - from setting up transects for counting butterflies to recording habitats and transformations. Spatial Data Recording in Citizen Science Apps For that purpose, we have developed a new feature for all Citi...
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Adapting Citizen Science App-Icons to a new technology

All Apps have a thing in common. They have an App-Icon. This visual element is one of the first things a participant in a Citizen Science App sees - and this makes it a vital part of a project. The first encounter with the App-Icon is already happening on the App Store page. Here, the App-Icon of a Citizen Science App represents a project and serve...
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User Mentions and Push Notifications - Enabling immediate direct communication for all Citizen Science Apps

Imagine a Citizen Scientist asking a question inside your project's App. What if a reply directly reaches the user on the smartphone with a beep as soon it is posted? This next level of immediacy is now a reality with the new "User Mention" feature for all Apps on the SPOTTERON platform. The new functionality enables direct and personal commun...
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A Milestone for Citizen Science: SPOTTERON 3.0 is here!

It has been a busy year here at SPOTTERON. Despite the ongoing global pandemic, we are happy that a new platform generation is finally ready for your Citizen Science Apps! After months of building up the groundwork, thorough evaluation, testing and improving, we are excited to present you the new and most extensive Citizen Science Platform we've ev...
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Making Data Meaningful: Data Visualization Overlay in Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON Platform

The new "Data Visualization Overlay" brings interactive data visualizations to all Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON Platform. Significant relationships are illustrated with one click and presented in a visually appealing way.

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E-Mail Subscription to your Citizen Science Project on the SPOTTERON Platform

For Citizen Science projects that want to get in touch with their users via newsletters, SPOTTERON offers an "e-mail subscription" feature, that any project on the platform can utilize right from the start.

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Offline Maps and Spots for Citizen Science on Field Trips

Summertime and the living is easy - especially for Citizen Scientists contributing their observations to projects running on the SPOTTERON platform. Excursions and field trips are excellent opportunities to observe nature in all its glory. From the phenological development of indicator plants for projects such as Climate Watch Australia or the ZAMG...
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Blocking Content in Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON platform

Publishing Smartphone Apps on the App Stores for Android and IOS comes with necessities within the set of rules defined by Apple and Google. All Apps on the platforms must accept the terms of services and given rules to be able to have a presence on the App Stores. Sometimes this also comes with surprising challenges, as we have experienced a short while ago. 

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Better science data over time in Citizen Science Apps: introducing the Nearby-Spots feature

As a project partner on the SPOTTERON platform, you can now gently guide the Citizen Scientists contributing to your project to make better, more accurate observations in the Apps, thus making the data you're trying to obtain better and easier to manage.

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