Citizen Science App Features

We build reliable and custom-tailored Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON Platform for research teams, community science projects and citizen engagement initiatives. Each Citizen Science App is available as a download for Android smartphones and Apple iPhones and can be adapted to your project's needs.

Each Citizen Science tool-kit comes with a web-application called the "interactive map". This web-app allows Citizen Scientists to enter data simply via a browser on their laptop or desktop computer and offers all key features of the smartphone apps, including the Citizen Science community.

A Project's website is its entry point and digital representation in the online world. As part of the SPOTTERON Package B, we provide a modern, responsive, and easy-to-use project website based on our framework for projects with Smartphone Apps or as a stand-alone for projects focusing on website-based online surveys.

If you do not have a professional project logo, do not worry: for each Citizen Science project on the platform, we create a project logo and typography if needed. Since the first impression for new users matters, we provide all the necessary visual assets for the app store with quality in mind and design additional media to support the app's dissemination online and with the press.

Citizen Scientists can put up observations quickly in the SPOTTERON Citizen Science apps. Designed as outdoor tools, we optimize all apps for easy use. The Data Input dialogue offers complete customization with a flexible set of input methods and data fields for your project.

On SPOTTERON, your Citizen Science project data is always accessible. Every project has access to the data administration interface, allowing easy data management and real-time export. We offer high-quality data security standards for all projects with a strong privacy focus.

Life cycles of smartphones and computers are short, and technology is always moving forward. In this rapidly changing environment, it is essential to continuously maintain and update software like Citizen Science apps for smartphones or Content Management Systems for websites. At SPOTTERON, all packages include full support and updates during the whole runtime.

Besides the communication and interaction functionalities, the SPOTTERON Community Pack also features a direct messaging tool for all Citizen Science projects. You can send short messages with push notifications directly to the smartphones of the Citizen Scientists in your app, to inform them directly about project updates, outcomes or other news.

In an online environment, privacy and data safety are essential points to consider when running an interactive project. Being digital natives ourselves, we apply high standards to the SPOTTERON platform in regards to the reliability of the technological solutions, and we also apply advanced ethical standards to increase further the privacy level of the users in your Citizen Science app.

Outdoor apps are often in use where web connectivity is low. All Citizen Science apps on the platform include an offline mode with map area download, local spot saving and a waiting queue for new observations, saved locally without an internet connection.

Every app on the platform includes a full feature social community toolkit with many advanced functionalities like a user's newsfeed, comments, liking, following and even push messaging for getting in contact with the participants directly.

The outcomes and impact of a Citizen Science and Pubic Engagement project rely on the data quality. On SPOTTEORN, various tools are built into all apps on the platform to support that user submissions are correct and that mechanisms are in place for correcting data, receiving feedback, and leading by example.

Increasing the long-term motivation of the participants is a vital key element in running volunteer-based projects. To help with long-term user motivation, all Apps on the SPOTTERON platform include tools for rewarding users for their activity and participation.

Citizen Science and public engagement initiatives flourish when working together. To foster collaboration and make possible what no single project can achieve on its own, we have created a thriving ecosystem of projects that support each other in feature development, technology sharing, and partnerships. At its core, the SPOTTERON Feature Ecosystem allows every project on the platform to use all existing features without extra development costs right from the start and benefit from what has

An established procedure is in place for designing and producing a project's Apps. The multi-step process spawns from drafting the input dialog for data submissions and collecting all App contents in a central document. From a Kickoff Meeting to App Release, we work closely with your team to design and develop your interactive Applications and digital toolkits from a text representation over visual previews to a final App prototype.

A big part of involving the public in an interactive project is communication. Enabling interactive Science Communication, e-Learning, and keeping participants in the loop makes it possible not exclusively to focus on data collection but to create positive impacts and foster change.

Running interactive and user-driven applications requires a reliable, secure, high-performance technical infrastructure. When using Apps and digital tools, we do not like to wait, and our personal data, contributions, and activities must be safe. All projects on the SPOTTERON platform run on a specialized cloud-based IT system for Citizen Science and Community Engagement, built by our professional system architects and developers for optimal performance.