Crowdsourcing to Acquire Hydrologic Data and Engage Citizen Scientists: CrowdHydrology
February 1, 2013
Spatially and temporally distributed measurements of processes, such as baseflow at the watershed scale, come at substantial equipment and personnel cost. Research presented here focuses on building a crowdsourced database of inexpensive distributed stream stage measurements. Signs on staff gauges encourage citizen scientists to voluntarily send hydrologic measurements (e.g., stream stage) via text message to a server that stores and displays the data on the web. Based on the crowdsourced stream stage, we evaluate the accuracy of citizen scientist measurements and measurement approach. The results show that crowdsourced data collection is a supplemental method for collecting hydrologic data and a promising method of public engagement.
Citation Information
Publication Year | 2013 |
---|---|
Title | Crowdsourcing to Acquire Hydrologic Data and Engage Citizen Scientists: CrowdHydrology |
DOI | 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2012.00956.x |
Authors | Michael N. Fienen, Chris Lowry |
Publication Type | Article |
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Series Title | Ground Water |
Index ID | 70042831 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
USGS Organization | Wisconsin Water Science Center |