Earthwatch Australia’s ClimateWatch app has a new feature allowing users to become community validators. This exciting new feature allows ClimateWatchers to be more deeply involved in the scientific process as they can now not only submit observations, but also assess the accuracy and support the observations of others.
ClimateWatch allows everyday Australians to contribute to climate change research by submitting observations about local flora and fauna straight from their phone. Submitted images and observations help scientists understand how species are responding to changes in temperature and rainfall and will help shape Australia’s scientific response to our changing climate.
The new community validation feature addresses a key step in the ClimateWatch process by allowing app users to be part of the quality control and validation process. This streamlines the data collation process whilst ensuring submitted observations are as accurate as possible. The feature was rolled out last month with a “Virtual Validation Blitz”, thanks to the help of over 100 volunteers from Telstra’s Data4Good team. Over four days the team was able to validate over 2000 ClimateWatch spots, doubling the existing validations on the platform. This validated data can now be shared with biodiversity datasets such as the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) to be used in science research and management.
