Regional project · Citizen science infrastructure
CitMApp
A free app for collecting geolocated data in citizen science projects
About the project
CitMApp (Citizen Science Mapping Application) is a free, open-source Android app designed for citizen science projects that need to collect data in the field.
Many of these projects have a strong spatial component: they ask volunteers for photos and other data linked to a geographical point. Each project usually developed its own app, which was expensive and meant that anyone taking part in several projects had to install several different apps.
CitMApp offered a shared platform: each project has its own form within the same app and can create its tasks without developing its own software. Participants record their position, take measurements or capture images, and the user community can add to this information later.
The app was developed by Mapeado Colaborativo – Geoinquietos Zaragoza and Fundación Ibercivis, together with staff from the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC). The code is available at github.com/ibercivis/citmapp.
Project objectives
- Make it easier to collect georeferenced data for several citizen science projects with a single app.
- Allow real-time data collection and support later scientific analysis.
- Spare each project from having to develop and maintain its own app.
- Offer the data freely and openly so that each project can create maps with it.
The role of Ibercivis
Ibercivis came up with the idea together with Mapeado Colaborativo – Geoinquietos Zaragoza and took part in developing the app. The data collected was managed on Ibercivis’s servers.
The first project to use CitMApp was #RíosCiudadanos, run by the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC), to monitor the water quality of rivers in Aragon. Volunteers took samples at more than a hundred points and uploaded the results through the app.
Our activities
- Development of the Android app, based on free software (OSMdroid, OSMBonusPack, Picasso and Volley).
- Data hosting and management on Ibercivis’s servers.
- Setting up specific forms for each participating project.
- Support for #RíosCiudadanos in collecting and publishing its data.
- Outreach: talk by Miguel Sevilla-Callejo on CitMApp (video) and coverage in a Heraldo de Aragón feature (in Spanish) on collaborative maps (June 2021).
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Project details
Type of project
Regional
Area
Citizen science infrastructure