PATHMAP (Pathogen And Tree fruit Health MAP): A Smartphone App and Interactive Dashboard to Record and Map Tree Fruit Diseases, Disorders, and Insect Pests

Abstract

PATHMAP (Pathogen And Tree fruit Health Map) is a smart phone application (app) and interactive dashboard developed specifically for support specialists, extension personnel, and university scientists supporting the tree fruit industry. The PATHMAP app collects detailed information about observed diseases, insect pests, and disorders and the option for attaching photos. The data is then visualized using a graphical interface dashboard displaying an interactive color-coded map. Prior to the development of PATHMAP, abundant tree fruit disorder data were collected each year, but a central interactive repository for archiving data and facilitating communication of field observations did not exist. PATHMAP has been beta-tested by university extension personnel, private consultants, and university scientists to ensure usability and functionality. PATHMAP will be used within the tree fruit industry for monitoring known pest patterns, occurrences, and outbreaks of emerging pathogens. It will augment existing extension diagnosis listservs which have value in visual diagnosis but are cumbersome and have no archiving capabilities. Data obtained through the tool can be used in epidemiological meta-analyses, to develop new predictive models, and can serve as a platform to track emerging pathogens, insects, and disorders for a variety of cropping systems.