EpiCollect: linking smartphones to web applications for epidemiology, ecology and community data collection
Author(s)
Aanensen, DM
Huntley, DM
Feil, EJ
al-Own, F
Spratt, BG
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background:
Epidemiologists and ecologists often collect data in the field and, on returning to their laboratory, enter their
data into a database for further analysis. The recent introduction of mobile phones that utilise the open source Android
operating system, and which include (among other features) both GPS and Google Maps, provide new opportunities for
developing mobile phone applications, which in conjunction with web applications, allow two-way communication
between field workers and their project databases.
Methodology:
Here we describe a generic framework, consisting of mobile phone software, EpiCollect, and a web
application located within www.spatialepidemiology.net. Data collected by multiple field workers can be submitted by
phone, together with GPS data, to a common web database and can be displayed and analysed, along with previously
collected data, using Google Maps (or Google Earth). Similarly, data from the web database can be requested and displayed
on the mobile phone, again using Google Maps. Data filtering options allow the display of data submitted by the individual
field workers or, for example, those data within certain values of a measured variable or a time period.
Conclusions:
Data collection frameworks utilising mobile phones with data submission to and from central databases are
widely applicable and can give a field worker similar display and analysis tools on their mobile phone that they would have
if viewing the data in their laboratory via the web. We demonstrate their utility for epidemiological data collection and
display, and briefly discuss their application in ecological and community data collection. Furthermore, such frameworks
offer great potential for recruiting ‘citizen scientists’ to contribute data easily to central databases through their mobile
phone.
Epidemiologists and ecologists often collect data in the field and, on returning to their laboratory, enter their
data into a database for further analysis. The recent introduction of mobile phones that utilise the open source Android
operating system, and which include (among other features) both GPS and Google Maps, provide new opportunities for
developing mobile phone applications, which in conjunction with web applications, allow two-way communication
between field workers and their project databases.
Methodology:
Here we describe a generic framework, consisting of mobile phone software, EpiCollect, and a web
application located within www.spatialepidemiology.net. Data collected by multiple field workers can be submitted by
phone, together with GPS data, to a common web database and can be displayed and analysed, along with previously
collected data, using Google Maps (or Google Earth). Similarly, data from the web database can be requested and displayed
on the mobile phone, again using Google Maps. Data filtering options allow the display of data submitted by the individual
field workers or, for example, those data within certain values of a measured variable or a time period.
Conclusions:
Data collection frameworks utilising mobile phones with data submission to and from central databases are
widely applicable and can give a field worker similar display and analysis tools on their mobile phone that they would have
if viewing the data in their laboratory via the web. We demonstrate their utility for epidemiological data collection and
display, and briefly discuss their application in ecological and community data collection. Furthermore, such frameworks
offer great potential for recruiting ‘citizen scientists’ to contribute data easily to central databases through their mobile
phone.
Date Issued
2009-09-16
Date Acceptance
2009-08-06
Citation
PLOS One, 2009, 4 (9)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Journal / Book Title
PLOS One
Volume
4
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© 2009 Aanensen et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Identifier
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Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Cell Phones
Computational Biology
Computers
Data Collection
Database Management Systems
Ecology
Epidemiology
Geography
Humans
Information Dissemination
Internet
Programming Languages
Software
Cellular Phone
General Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e6968