3. How it works
Lat/Long obtained via phone’s GPS in the field
Normal accuracy between 2 and 8m
Photo +
Metadata
4.
5.
6. iRecord Butterflies (Butterfly Conservation)
• 31,000 surveys submitted this year.
• 2x Springwatch 2014 and 1x Autumnwatch 2014
• Data is being used by Butterfly Conservation to
monitor butterfly populations year and year.
• A significant public engagement tool for them.
7. PlantTracker (Environment Agency)
• 10,000 verified records of invasive plants submitted.
• Many projects using the data to tackle invasive non-native
species. e.g. Yorkshire wildlife trust and Jersey Council
• Probably the highest quality data set on invasive plants on
the NBN Gateway
• Data downloaded at least once per week on average by
researchers and others interested in the data
8. Why it works
For researchers:
– Geo-located data
– Photo attached (verifiable… most of the time)
– Enables previously impractical surveys
– Improves public understanding of research
For the public:
– Apps themselves are informative
– Accessible by anyone (potentially)
– Feedback via immediate visibility of contribution
10. 10
• BOS launched in 2003.
• £1m+ redevelopment from
2011 to 2014.
• New BOS released October
2014.
• Free for UoB researchers.
11. Who uses BOS?
• Over 85% of UK HEIs
• National "benchmarking" surveys (60+ universities)
– Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS)
– Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)
– Research Leaders survey
• Free for UoB researchers (180+ Bristol accounts)
12. App development in BOS
• Build data collection apps yourself without a developer.
• Mobile websites (& can package as app).
• Today:
• Surveys, web forms, logic and general data collection
• Planned:
• Geolocation, maps, access to camera and sensors
14. BatMobile project
• SoundHound, Shazam etc. enable people to identify
songs they hear, using a mobile app.
• BatMobile applies the same principle to identify species
of bats from their ultrasonic calls.
• Challenges:
– realtime on a mobile
– online vs. offline analysis
– ultrasound => need a special microphone