EAGER - GLOBE (NSF16-031): Collaborative Research: Leveraging GLOBE student and citizen science data on the Flyover Country mobile platform for place-based, data-driven education

This project will focus on developing the capacity to expose and visualize GLOBE data collected by citizen scientists and students in the geoscience mobile app Flyover Country (FC). This application for mobile devices displays Earth data and geologic maps drawn from public databases, and caches this information on the mobile device for offline use. The user can then access a wealth of curated geoscience content while in flight, on a road trip, or on a hike. In addition to presenting GLOBE data alongside with other data, the project will develop associated visualization and interactivity functions for FC. These functions include a 'mission' or 'call to action' for the user to collect GLOBE observations if his or her driving FC path intersects a region that is underrepresented with respect to GLOBE data; a time slider to visualize changes in data point values over time (i.e., the past 20 years of GLOBE data collection); and an application programming interface to improve access to GLOBE data. These functions will be of great utility not only to the GLOBE user cases, but also to all users of FC and potential users/analysts of GLOBE data. GLOBE data in FC will also benefit from novel cartographic visualization strategies being developed.

It is expected that GLOBE data will accessible to the 100,000 users of FC. In addition, there is the possibility of developing new exercises for use in classrooms where computers may be limited, but access to mobile devices may be more within reach. The investigators will assess the use of FC-with-GLOBE in the classes at a community college, and use the same assessments with other groups, including diverse undergraduate students conducting research, Native American students in K-12 science camps, and students in attending universities and field camps. The results will be shared in one or more publications. The promotion of the GLOBE Program to the academic research community, through the incipient development of FC as a research application, will raise awareness of the program as a highly desirable partner for developing meaningful broader impacts activities.