Discovering Nature in the City with a Citizen Science Mobile App

By

Sturm, Ulrike
Buhl, Alexander
Hoffmann, Jana
Lasseck, Mario
Tscholl, Martin
Khorramshahi, Omid
Glöckler, Falko

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2017-8-11

Original Publication

Metabarcoding and metagenomics

Volume

1

Pages

1--2

Subjects

Biodiversity , Citizen science , city , Identification , mobile app , pattern recognition

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2017-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/tdwgproceedings.1.20206

 

Abstract

In the project 'Stadtnatur entdecken' (discovering nature in the city) a multidisciplinary team of specialists in biology, informatics, urban ecology and social sciences is looking into how to effectively communicate educational content on environmental topics to young adults and to allow them to contribute as citizen scientists. The mobile app 'Naturblick' presents on experience of nature in an urban setting. Several tools are combined in the app that allows users to identify species. The team developed auditory and visual pattern recognition tools that will automatically identify sound recordings and photographs and multi-access identification keys for flora and fauna. There is a map function that will help explore nature in the users’ immediate vicinity in Berlin, Germany, highlighting the diversity of species to be found. Users are able to share their observations and records. The project is designed to involve user participation and continuous improvement based on user feedback of both the content and technology.