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...
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. ...
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 ...
The YouCount project is one of our active Horizon 2020 / Horizon Europe project participations, in which we create digital innovation for Citizen Science Apps and Citizen Observatories. The project - located in nine European countries - works to co-create new knowledge and innovations that increase the social inclusion of youth across ten case stud...
The MAKENYA Mammal Atlas App is a Kenyan citizen science mobile-based application that allows users to monitor and track rare and common mammals. It allows users to use their map location or GPS coordinates of the area they spotted a particular mammal, share pictures, and identify the species. The project has been the first Citizen S...
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 ...
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,...
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...
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...
We are thrilled to share the ZAMG's news that the Nature's Calendar phenology app running on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform has reached its 100k spot milestone!According to our project partners, the most commonly observed plants were not indicator plants but others and their changes during the year. With the over 57000 comments and dis...
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...
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...
Popillia japonica is a small bug of approximately one-centimetre length with a shiny green head, brown-ish shiny wings and five distinct white stripes on its abdomen. However, while its jewel-like appearance is quite pleasing to the eye, we should not underestimate this invasive species' agenda: This beetle came to eat our crops and is very hungry.
Humans and birds have a very long shared history. We have grown them for poultry, we appreciate their beauty, and in some cultures, we had even worshipped them as gods. We have been observing birds, their behaviour, their flight and migration patterns since prehistoric times, many cave drawings around the globe being proof. To this day, humans...
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...
Citizen Science is leading to remarkable developments worldwide, and in Australia in particular. Between bushfires and a global pandemic, and being a country that faces the effects of climate change on a large scale, it has seen an influx in citizen-driven science projects in recent times, uniting people to achieve a common goal. This October, the ...
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...
At SPOTTERON, we create Citizen Science Apps for a wide array of scientific fields. One of the most exciting topics is phenology - the study of periodically recurring phenomena in nature's annual cycle - and how global warming affects the developmental stages of animals and plants. Volunteer monitoring of nature, the weather and the seasons date ba...
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.
A new Citizen Science App in Eastern Africa. In this video article, Simon Musila from the Mammal Section of the National Museums of Kenya speaks to 'Nature Kenya' about the importance of monitoring mammals in Kenya and why it is essential to use modern mobile application technology in scientific research to involve a wide range ...