European project · Air quality
OdourCollect
An app for citizens to build collaborative maps of odour nuisance
About the project
OdourCollect was a citizen science project that proposed a change to the traditional way of managing odour nuisance. Odour pollution is the second most common environmental complaint in Europe, yet there is no specific legislation to control it, which leaves the people affected with no tools to make a complaint.
Using a mobile app, anyone could record the unpleasant smells they noticed at home or at work. These records were used to build collaborative odour maps that calculated how often odours occurred and how much of a nuisance they were, and the maps were open for anyone to consult.
The project began within MYGEOSS, a two-year European Commission project (2015–2016) to develop apps based on GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) that would inform citizens about changes in their local environment. Later, with funding from FECYT, the platform was taken to national level in editions run in 2018 and 2019.
Project objectives
- To give people affected by odour nuisance a tool to report the problem and call for improvements to their quality of life.
- To build open odour maps that would show the problem and could be used to request action from the relevant operators.
- To take the platform to schools across Spain.
- To work with residents’ associations in communities affected by real, long-standing odour pollution problems.
The role of Ibercivis
Ibercivis carried out the work for the European project OdourCollect, co-funded by the European Commission under the Joint Research Centre’s MYGEOSS environmental monitoring programme. The app was developed together with chemical engineer Rosa Arias, a specialist in odour pollution.
Building on that work, Ibercivis applied to FECYT for co-funding to extend the platform to schools and to affected local communities. The project was also submitted to the European H2020-SwafS-2017 call.
Our activities
- Development of the OdourCollect app for Android and its web version (odourcollect.socientize.eu).
- Creation of collaborative odour maps from the records submitted by citizens.
- Presentation of the project (‘The power of the human nose… smell and share!’) at the Citizen Science Event held in Zaragoza on 30 June 2016.
- Activities with schools and residents’ associations in the national editions funded by FECYT.
Project details
Type of project
European
Duration
2016 – 2019
Funding
European Commission (Joint Research Centre’s MYGEOSS programme) and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)
Area
Air quality