Posted by
Kevin Winterfield in
You can now help your city track creek health and identify areas of concern by using your iPhone as a clean water monitor with Creek Watch, a new app developed by IBM researchers and featured on People for a Smarter Planet.
Got an iPhone? Download Creek Watch now!
Click the image to download the Creek Watch iPhone app
Think about how many times you walk, bike or even drive past a creek or stream in your city. Some of us have a favorite creekside trail we jog on the weekends. Many of us drive over a bridge every day on the way to work. These creeks and streams are sometimes sometimes full, sometimes dry and many times littered with trash. With so many waterways in one city, sometimes flowing through private property, it’s hard for one team of officials to appropriately monitor them. With IBM’s Creek Watch iPhone app, members of the community can easily become ‘citizen scientists,’ and in 4 easy steps, make a difference: snap a photo, and select the water level, the water flow and the amount of trash nearby. The app provides three easy buttons to choose from as indicators, and even gives you explanations of each.
IBM computer scientists live for big data problems. Creek Watch provides a great opportunity to apply decades of data and analytics expertise to positively impact the environment. “Creek Watch lets the average citizen contribute to the health of their water supply – without PhDs, chemistry kits and a lot of time,” said Christine Robson, IBM Research. “Harnessing the crowdsourced data movement for a cause people care about is a win-win-win for citizens, water quality programs and IBM’s desire to solve big data challenges.”
“We need many eyes on our creeks to help us track their health,” said biologist Carol Boland of San Jose’s Watershed Protection Division. “We’re thrilled that IBM has provided an easy tool that engages citizens in contributing to a database on creek health.”
You can read more details about the project on the IBM Research news blog. And download the Creek Watch iPhone app here.
Join People for a Smarter Planet
Click on the image to check out People for a Smarter Planet
Creek Watch is an excellent example of what People for a Smarter Planet (P4SP) is all about. People for a Smarter Planet offers a dynamic and intelligent network of activities, conversations and discussions you can participate in to help build a sustainable and smarter world. Or, if you just want to hang around and listen, that’s okay too. And if you have a project you think we should feature on P4SP, let us know.
Join People for a Smarter Planet today. Help build a Smarter Planet.
9:57 am
[...] Control Board’s Clean Water Team (zie dat maar eens op een visitekaartje te krijgen) een iPhoneapplicatie ontwikkelt die dat doet. Creek Watch helpt met het verzamelen van data en het inzichtelijk maken van de stand [...]
Posted by: Crowdsourcing natuuronderzoek met IBM’s Creek Watch op Medialandschap over toekomst, innovatie, communicatie en technologie
9:52 am
It’s actually a great and useful piece of information. I’m happy that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Corrie Bombaci
11:04 am
Yes there is an app for just about everything. I do however think that this is a good and useful one.
thanks for the post
Posted by: iphone development on windows - Chad
8:10 am
Great news!
Posted by: shyne
10:11 pm
I would just remind people that most creeks run through private property. To get to a creek may mean that you are trespassing. If your are trespassing you could be arrested and, depending on the circumstances, you could be charged with a felony. In some states private property boundries (and rights) extend to the middle of creeks. If you must cross private property or enter into a creek, be respectful of the owners and ask their permission.
Posted by: Bobzilla