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. 

If you've subscribed to our newsletter, its no big news at all: Last week, the new Citizen Science project by Vetenskap och Allmänhet (Science and Public) and the Universities of Gothenburg and Stockholm has been pre-released on Android and is in review by Apple. Time to go into depth what new features are available also for your own Citizen Science project in SPOTTERON!

Sometimes, Citizen Science contributions are happening long after the sun has set. To reduce the blinding effect of a smartphone display, we have included a new night mode option for all Citizen Science apps on the SPOTTERON platform.

We are happy to announce the release of the new SPOTTERON version 2.6.0! The next SPOTTERON Update brings 3 new extension, available for all Citizen Science apps running on the SPOTTERON platform. In the following blog entry we are going to explain these new features and their function.

At SPOTTERON, we love it when science, design and art come together to create something quite special and unique. One of those special things are the clay animation videos by Max Helmberger.

For Citizen Science projects, it is essential to understand the needs of the user and how to design interactive products and apps to guarantee good usability – which is highly involving. Researching and observing should be an experience with added value. Therefore User Journeys are often used in the progress of developing a new Application. 

The MAKENYA - Mammal Atlas Kenya project is a Kenyan Citizen Science App to monitor rare and common mammals. Together with scientists of the Zoology Department of Kenya's National Museums, we developed and designed the first mobile Application for an African country running on the SPOTTERON Platform.

Since 2014, we are providing services for science projects and institutions with a strong focus on design, technical professionality and reliablity. Trusted by universities, institutions and stakeholders across Europe and beyond, we are creating custom online solutions for science and Citizen Science applications.

Since the European Geosciences Union EGU holds its anual meeting in Vienna, Austria, we took the opportunity to catch up with Crowdwater, a  Science project about hydrology and water levels of rivers, soil moisture and stream spotting, running on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform.

We talked to Thomas Hübner from the Central Station for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) during the "Long Night of Research" in the Museum of Natural History in Vienna, Austria about the new phenology Citizen Science project "Nature's Calendar" about the the 10 phenological seasons in the project and what Citizen Scientists can observe in the Citizen Science App for Android and IOS.

From 3rd to 5th of June 2018, the ECSA Conference 2018 and the general assembly of the European Citizen Science Association takes place in Geneva, Switzerland. As members of ECSA and platform for Citizen Science Apps we for sure take part during the whole time.

Today we want to take you on a little trip in our blog. We want to take you on the journey of going from a paper sketch to a custom built Citizen Science observation entry dialogue alongside the most recent addition to the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform - Brushturkeys.

When developing a Citizen Science app, you can influence usability in many ways. But these crucial decisions can be decisive factors when it comes down to whether they enjoy using it and do so regularly.

Communication in Citizen Science projects is a significant factor in your project's success. There are many ways to connect with the participants in a project, one of them is rewarding users when they contribute.

We are proud to announce, that lately, we formed part of the author-team of a scientific paper, published in the Frontiers magazine, about Citizen Science based on hydrological observations.

A brand new feature for all Citizen Science apps on the SPOTTERON platform comes with the next release version: Citizen Science Events. With this new extension, the project teams can publish events like workshops or field trips directly in the Citizen Science app. Secondly, it is possible to create area events, to e.g. highlight, where more observations by the Citizen Scientists are needed.

The Univerity of Sydney invites citizens to take part in their latest Citizen Science project, Big City Birds, running on the SPOTTERON platform. The project aims to find out more about the adaptability of certain bird species in cities and urban areas.

We are delighted to hear that our partner’s, the University of Sydney’s, Big City Birds app is making a big impact in Australia, as a recent article in the Guardian Australia shows.
The Citizen Science app that allows city-dwellers to turn into scientists and track Australia’s urban birds runs on the SPOTTERON platform.