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Now collecting and recording data remotely will be easy using new software. As per the researchers at Imperial College-London (ICL), the new application in ‘smartphones’ will enable the researchers and scientist to collect and record data, photos and videos to and from a web-based database.
The epidemiologists and ecologists can also analyse data remotely and map findings across the world, without going to the lab. Apart from that, the smartphone software will enable some of the members of the public to be as 'citizen scientists' and help collect data for different community projects.
The website can use any user’s details from the GPS network and can display the same through the Google Maps. Studying the endangered species or cases of a disease and analysing the patterns will now be easy through this new technique.
The ICL scientists are using a new tool called ‘EpiCollect’ to study various bacterial and fungal diseases.
David Aanensen, lead study author at ICL said, "We’re excited about launching this new software - researchers have been able to send information by phone before, but this is the first time that we have been able to link all the functionality of smartphone technology to a web-based database for scientists to use."
"If a research team or a group of school children wants to look at how a particular species is spread across their locality, or the world, they can download the application for free and start collecting and submitting data to a project website," added Aanensen.
These findings have been published in the science journal, PLoS ONE.
