Flowered-Geodbapp: An Application Based on Crowd-Generating Data Using Sentinel2 Imagery

Abstract

ABSTRACT:This study is part of the EU H2020 research Project FLOWERED (de-FLuoridation technologies for imprOving quality of WatEr and agRo-animal products along the East African Rift Valley in the context of aDaptation to climate change). FLOWERED project aims to develop technologies and methodologies at cross-boundary catchment scales to manage the risks associated with high Fluoride water supply in Africa, focusing on three representative test areas along the African Rift Valley (i.e. Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania), characterized by high fluoride contents in waters and soils, water scarcity, overexploitation of groundwater and high vulnerability to risks arising from climate change, as drought and desertification. It also is empowering local communities to take responsibility for the integrated-sustainability of the natural resources, growing national and international environmental priorities, enhancing transboundary cooperation and promoting local ownership based on a scientific and technological approach. Within the FLOWERED project, the transition from the land cover to the land use and water use maps is provided through the development of a mobile application (FLOWERED-GeoDBapp ). It is dedicated to the collection of local geo-information on land use, water uses, irrigation systems, household features, use of drinking water and the other information needful for the specific knowledge of water supply involving local communities through participative approach. This system is structured to be populated, through an action of crowd-generating data by local communities (students and people involved mainly by NGOs). The SHAREGEODBapp is proposed as an innovative tool for water management and agriculture institutions at regional and local level.

Esa Sentinel 2 Imagery and Gbgeoapp: Integrated Tools for the Deosai National Park Management Plan

“…The idea to improve the classification results with ground data on land use has been supported, proposing to the local technicians the using of the new GBGEOApp. This study builds on and improves the results obtained by the writers in a previous study in which an app was designed and utilized to collect data on water quality and share with local technicians through a web platform based on Geonetwork system (Melis et al, 2017). All data collected within this activity are available for the scientific community through a specific and dedicated web portal based on SHARE-GeoNetwork.…”

“…Moreover, the use of a collaborative process for the recognition of the landscape characteristics is crucial for the maintenance of the environmental peculiarities and an improved land use legend system mainly focused on protected areas management can be proposed. As discussed in (Melis et al, 2017), three main goals will be achieved: -The transition from the land cover to land use map; -The social dimension of the process developed through a technological transfer can induce regional scientists and administrators to view science as a social, not simply technical, activity; -A community awareness of the importance of a deep knowledge of land use and its interaction with environmental issues for ecosystem management. This study is part of the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) Project "Improvement of Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) Management System as Model for Mountain Ecosystems in Northern Pakistan", coordinated by the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) EvK2CNR Pakistan.…”

“…These data are stored in remote databases and integrated with other information to provide updated data (Herrick et al, 2016). In this framework, thanks to a positive experience of the authors in the EU H2020 Project FLOWERED (Melis et al, 2017), an application for mobile has been proposed to the rangers of the park and extended to technicians and students of the local organizations in Pakistan. It is important to consider main requests of the proposed tool: -Online and offline mode; -Access to a classified land cover map; -Automatic localization; -Collection of georeferenced and oriented photos; -Input data in different databases for each topic, according to personal knowledge; -Access to a web resource, webGIS, to analyze the results and download data in standard formats for further processes.…”

Citizen Science Applications for Water Quality Monitoring. A Review

“…From the selected studies, a range of citizen science based methodologies are implemented, including crowd-sourced data collection through smartphone applications [9], [15], [20], [40], [55], [63], [70], [73], [75], participatory sampling campaigns (PSP) [13], [37] 675 based on conducting water quality sampling through utilization of airborne sensors including drones or placing sensors as part of other equipments used by professionals, and lastly community-based environmental monitoring (CBEM) programs [33], [38], [44] involving 680 the scientific data collection involving the participation of youth, elders, researchers, and experts.…”