Top-rated GEO Apps Announced
The winners of the 2014 Geo Appathon were revealed at a Group on Earth Observations (GEO) event in Geneva last week. The winning GEO apps ranged from a location, soil and climate-specific guide for farmers and gardeners to identify the best crops to grow, to a real time flood and landslide warning system for El Salvador.
The winning apps included:
1st Prize
Growers Nation. This app provides useful information on the plants that can be best grown according to the specific soil and climate data at a precise location. The App is aimed primarily for smallholder farmers in developing countries and will allow them to view a wealth of information allowing a crop diversity plan to be placed into action. Furthermore, a simple social networking system can allow users to discuss specific plant types and any issues.
Download Growers Nation on Google Play or iTunes
2nd Prize
Weather Hazard. Serves to inform the public about weather and associated hazard conditions in El Salvador, in particular, landslides and flood conditions triggered during the rainy season.
Download Weather Hazard on Google Play
3rd Prize
Geofairy. This app provides localized information on weather, vegetation, elevation, soil moisture, land cover, atmosphere and precipitation, information that is often difficult to acquire in developing countries. Geofairy could guide people in developing countries to make plans and take actions to prevent environmental degradation.
Download Geofairy on Android (APK)
Runner Up
LiquidEarth-River. A GEO App using satellite radar altimeter data to forecast flood conditions downstream.
Visit LiquidEarth website.
Runner Up
Appathon@K-Bon. A GEO App and website for collecting the global distribution information of plants and animals with a “remote” species identification process.
Visit K-Bon website.
The Geo Appathon is an international competition, which attracted entries from nearly 50 countries across the world. Apps entered were based on GEO and Earth observation data, and evaluated on multiple criteria, including ease of use, number of GEOSS data resources used, and applicability to the developing world, among others.
For more information, visit geoappathon.org.
