state and trends in mobile observation applications - isess 2014
DESCRIPTION
The stellar growth of the smartphones and nearly gapless mobile network coverage in urban and suburban areas has widely extended the potential of the citizens’ observatories. The possibility to easily record observations made by mobile citizens, and to automatically enrich this information using the built-in and external sensors sounds like a dream come true of the scientists and decision makers alike. However, in 2013 only a tiny portion of the potential users really participated in the citizen observation programs and the usability of the received information is often below expectations. The learning curve is often too high, sensor quality too low, the societal importance and the added value for the users not easily understood by the end users. Some of these obstacles can be overcome by improving the interaction with the users through crowdtasking and microlearning, others by re-assessing the application design and expectations. In this paper, we shall present the best practice examples of the mobile observation usage in applications currently available on the market. We shall discuss the scope, potentials, limitations, obstacles, and ethical issues of these applications, compare them with the apps developed by the research community and reasonTRANSCRIPT
“ENVIROfying” the Future Internet
THE ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVATION WEBFOR THE CROSS-DOMAIN FI-PPP APPLICATIONS
State and trends in mobile observation applications
iEMSs 2014, June 18-th 2014, San Diego
Denis Havlik and Gerald Schimak (AIT)
Why VGI?
2014 Denis Havlik, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH. 2
Human sensors?
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Panoramio
Sports-tracker
Waze ENVIROFI ZmapujTO
PocketLAI
e-mobiliTI
User Geo-ref. photos,
Geo-ref. photos
Hazards reports, map improvements, fuel prices…
Tree occur. and additional observations; own reactions to environment
Positions of illegal dump sites
Geo-ref. photos, inclination, weather conditions
comments and explanations for travels
System Ranking Tracks; Speed, calories hearth rate (opt.)
Car velocity, Routing
Plausibility, leaf detection, ambient pressure
Land ownership
Leaf area index
Segments; means of transport
Peers Comments, tags
Comments
Confirmations
Confirmations, development over time
Confirmations?
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What do we expect from users?
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Motivation matters!
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Panoramio
Sports-tracker
Waze ENVIROFI ZmapujTO
PocketLAI
e-mobiliTI
User Benefit
Backup, manage and present photos;
progress and achievements; (own, pears)
Lower cost and duration of trips
Tree identification, own reactions to environment
Higher quality of life;
Track crop growth, estimate yields
Improved awareness of own habits
Motivation boost
Peer reactions (ego)
Own achievements, peer reactions
Points for achievements
tasks, personalized alerts, feedback
Municipality and peer reactions
- by project team
Goodies Photo album
Fitness diary
Scavenger hunt
Learning about environment & health
Organise own actions
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Main benefactor
user user user, community
community, user
community
user project
What do users gain?
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On giving, taking and (t)askingView existing knowledge•Map view•Table view•Detailed View•Areas of Interest
View existing knowledge•Map view•Table view•Detailed View•Areas of Interest
Receive information (events!)•Requests for more observations, •Warnings, e.g. “pollen warning”•Interests, e.g. “monumental tree in vicinity”
Receive information (events!)•Requests for more observations, •Warnings, e.g. “pollen warning”•Interests, e.g. “monumental tree in vicinity”
Report observations•“New” things, e.g. “here and now I see a tree”•Personal, e.g. “I have a headache”•Obs. on existing thing, e.g. “this tree currently blossoms
Report observations•“New” things, e.g. “here and now I see a tree”•Personal, e.g. “I have a headache”•Obs. on existing thing, e.g. “this tree currently blossoms
Inform
Server Backend(or proxy)
Alert!Request Action!
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Crowd(t)ask and thou shall be given?
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Mobile Users
SensorsAutomatedTasking
External Data
ManualTasking
Decision maker
Experts Algorithms
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Data export
Crowd(t)asking at work
Waze sucesfully combines crowdtasking, geofencing and scavenger hunt elements
• „are you at a petrol station?“ => petrol prices
• „are you in congestion“? => congestion info, accidents
• „Collect the goodies on a map“ => road condition
(It also features geo-specific alerts)
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Microlearning and VGI
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Classical: large information intake, well in-advance to use
Illustration from Flickr, by Dean+Barb
Illustration from Flickr, by Tulane Public Relations
Incompatible with the modern lifestyle!
Learning by doing: trial and error method
Illustration from: The Black Cat Diaries
OK, unless it endangers users.
Learning while doing: just in time intake of information in small portions (microlearning)
“Danger, complex diagrams ahead”Illustration from Flickr, by Matthew Rogers
Preferably disguised as a “game”.
„Learning while doing“ examples
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Objective Possible approach
How to use the application? Tooltips or popup messages on first use (implemented)
Training to recognise objects
Scavenger hunt for known and tagged objects
Learn to avoid misidentifications
control questions & feedback
A-posteriori feedback Notify user when more info on the object is available (implemented)
Classify data & assess users knowledge
Generalized re-capcha principle
Reviewing, preparing for “tests”
Generalized flashcards
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1. The authors are in no way affiliated to any of the programs used in comparison tables (except ENVIROFI)
2. The ideas presented today were developed in the scope of the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 284898 (ENVIROFI)
3. Our R&D currently concentrates on crowdtasking for crisis management in the DRIVER project (Grant Agreement Number n° 607798). • Micro-training and tasking according to concrete
needs, users knowledge and capacities is a must in crisis management applications.
Acknowledgements
152014 Denis Havlik, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH.
Thank you for your attentionDr. Denis Havlik
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh
Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 284898
www.envirofi.eu