Citizen Science App Features
All Apps on SPOTTERON are custom-tailored and sharing a polished and well-working basis, which has been proven to work in many live Citizen Science projects and initiatives. Every App on SPOTTERON can use all existing features of the Citizen Science Platform without any additional development costs. This "Feature Ecosystem" consists already of the 4 core feature packs "Community Pack, "Data Quality Pack", "User Motivation Pack" and the "Offline Mode". In collaboration with the science teams and universities, we develop constantly new features and provide them again for free to every running project - because working together matters.
Overview of the Citizen Science App Concepts on SPOTTERON
Citizen Science Apps
We build reliable and custom-tailored Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON Platform for research teams, community science projects and citizen engagement initiatives. Each Citizen Science App is available as a download for Android smartphones and Apple iPhones and can be adapted to your project's needs.
Data Input & Observations
Citizen Scientists can put up observations quickly in the SPOTTERON Citizen Science apps. Designed as outdoor tools, we optimize all apps for easy use. The Data Input dialogue offers complete customization with a flexible set of input methods and data fields for your project.
Creating Communities
Every app on the platform includes a full feature social community toolkit with many advanced functionalities like a user's newsfeed, comments, liking, following and even push messaging for getting in contact with the participants directly.
Data quality
The outcomes and impact of a Citizen Science and Pubic Engagement project rely on the data quality. On SPOTTEORN, various tools are built into all apps on the platform to support that user submissions are correct and that mechanisms are in place for correcting data, receiving feedback, and leading by example.
Interactive Science Communication
A big part of involving the public in an interactive project is communication. Enabling interactive Science Communication, e-Learning, and keeping participants in the loop makes it possible not exclusively to focus on data collection but to create positive impacts and foster change.
User Motivation
Increasing the long-term motivation of the participants is a vital key element in running volunteer-based projects. To help with long-term user motivation, all Apps on the SPOTTERON platform include tools for rewarding users for their activity and participation.
Data management
On SPOTTERON, your Citizen Science project data is always accessible. Every project has access to the data administration interface, allowing easy data management and real-time export. We offer high-quality data security standards for all projects with a strong privacy focus.
Project Ecosystem
Technology Infrastructure
Running interactive and user-driven applications requires a reliable, secure, high-performance technical infrastructure. When using Apps and digital tools, we do not like to wait, and our personal data, contributions, and activities must be safe. All projects on the SPOTTERON platform run on a specialized cloud-based IT system for Citizen Science and Community Engagement, built by our professional system architects and developers for optimal performance.
Privacy & data safety
In an online environment, privacy and data safety are essential points to consider when running an interactive project. Being digital natives ourselves, we apply high standards to the SPOTTERON platform in regards to the reliability of the technological solutions, and we also apply advanced ethical standards to increase further the privacy level of the users in your Citizen Science app.
Project homepages
Interactive maps
Each Citizen Science tool-kit comes with a web-application called the "interactive map". This web-app allows Citizen Scientists to enter data simply via a browser on their laptop or desktop computer and offers all key features of the smartphone apps, including the Citizen Science community.
Offline Mode
Outdoor apps are often in use where web connectivity is low. All Citizen Science apps on the platform include an offline mode with map area download, local spot saving and a waiting queue for new observations, saved locally without an internet connection.
Regular updates
Life cycles of smartphones and computers are short, and technology is always moving forward. In this rapidly changing environment, it is essential to continuously maintain and update software like Citizen Science apps for smartphones or Content Management Systems for websites. At SPOTTERON, all packages include full support and updates during the whole runtime.
Logos, print & media
If you do not have a professional project logo, do not worry: for each Citizen Science project on the platform, we create a project logo and typography if needed. Since the first impression for new users matters, we provide all the necessary visual assets for the app store with quality in mind and design additional media to support the app's dissemination online and with the press.
Push messages
Besides the communication and interaction functionalities, the SPOTTERON Community Pack also features a direct messaging tool for all Citizen Science projects. You can send short messages with push notifications directly to the smartphones of the Citizen Scientists in your app, to inform them directly about project updates, outcomes or other news.
App Production Process
An established procedure is in place for designing and producing a project's Apps. The multi-step process spawns from drafting the input dialog for data submissions and collecting all App contents in a central document. From a Kickoff Meeting to App Release, we work closely with your team to design and develop your interactive Applications and digital toolkits from a text representation over visual previews to a final App prototype.