This project aims to investigate whether augmented reality can be used beneficially in citizen science projects. Citizen science projects give non-scientists the opportunity to participate in scientific projects. For example, they can be involved in the data collection process or assist in the evaluation of data that has already been collected. Ideally, both sides benefit from the collaboration in a citizen science project: the volunteer participants gain an insight into exciting scientific projects and the scientists receive valuable support in their research.
This project aims to test whether the data collection process within a citizen science project can be optimized through the use of augmented reality in order to improve the quality of the data collected. The idea is that the technology can be used to guide the participants of a citizen science project through the data collection process in a more targeted manner, thus providing the scientists with higher quality data.
The recording of photo time series serves as a use case. Time series of photos can be used to show changes in landscapes, buildings, infrastructure, etc. and thus form the data basis for various research projects. As it is crucial for photo time series that the individual photos show the same section of the landscape as far as possible, augmented reality can help to adopt the correct position and to align the smartphone camera accordingly.
As part of this project, a mobile app is therefore being developed that can be used to record photo time series. The app will be developed on a cross-platform basis and will ultimately be used in several citizen science projects. In order to test whether the use of such an app is actually profitable, the collected photos will be evaluated and it will be tested whether the photos taken with the help of augmented reality are of higher quality.
