While we most commonly associate Google with its ability to search the Intertubes for our favorite science FAILs, the tech giant is also opening new doors for citizen science. A recent article in the Public Library of Science (PloS) ONE highlights a new mobile phone application, powered by Google Maps and Google’s Android operating system, that allows professional and citizen scientists to gather, submit, and access research data from the field.

The application, called EpiCollect, was initially designed for epedimiological and ecological studies but has potential for a number of other fields, including economics, public health, and resource allocation. Individual users can input data records (variables, photos, GPS location, etc) into EpiCollect from their mobile phone, which is synchronized to a central database. An accompanying web application, located at www.spatialepidemiology.net, provides a common location for mapping, visualization, and analysis of the data by everyone involved in the study. The two-way connectivity between the EpiCollect mobile application and the central database could increase the collection and collation of data for community projects, particular in resource-limited areas.

Importantly, EpiCollect was developed as a free software using Google’s open-source Android operating system. Anyone interested in using the software is encouraged to contact David Aanensen in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London.  The EpiCollect website also provides three sample epidemological datasets and a facility to geocode your own spatial data.

This is cool. Dr. Ohab just reported on Data.gov, a new site designed to “increase public access to high value, machine readable data sets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.”

Several third party applications have been created to allow regular folks like us to “mash-up” the data  in various forms.

Here’s one example of such an application: ThisWeKnow.org. Simply key in a location or zip code and up pops government stats such as current populations, # of pollutants released into the air, recently earmarked funds and a list of who requested them (hint: Chaka Fattah’s been busy), and more.
Turns out, in Philadelphia, we have 349,651 home owners and 240,420 renters. (All of this assumes the data is accurate, a topic for a future post.)