Flyover Country, a mobile app for geoscience education

Flyover Country，地球科学教育移动应用程序

• 批准号: 1541800
• 负责人: Amy Myrbo
• 金额: $ 14.69万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-05-01 至 2016-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1541800&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Flyover; Country; mobile; app; geoscience

This award will develop a mobile app, Flyover Country (FC), that will bring information about relevant points of interest (POI) and map data to the user mid-flight, without the need for in-flight Wi-Fi, by downloading a strip of data based on the flightpath before the user boards the plane. GPS (Global Positioning System), which functions in airplane mode, allows precise flight tracking, making prompts for POI viewing timely and relevant. With around 4.5 million people flying every day, the potential audience for FC is huge, as is its potential for geoscience outreach. The app will directly feed high-quality geoscience information to the user at the very point when curiosity is stimulated, and could thus improve public science literacy as well as inspiring and supporting the development of a generation of geoscientists. FC could also readily be adapted for use in STEM education, and will be structured so as to provide a platform for the exposure of all types of geospatial geoscience data, forming new infrastructure for education and research. Visualization of geoscience through combining map views, articles, audio, visual aids, and the bird's eye view from a plane window will allow for new questions, ideas, relationships, and inspiration to be cultivated by scientists and the public alike. In addition, FC may improve the current state of data accessibility and the potential for dataset integration while simultaneously increasing the incentives for improving data discovery in the geosciences and beyond. Development of the app will be split into two main tasks: (1) the geospatial acquisition of maps and POI, which may be accomplished off the device (server-side), and (2) an on-device user interface that requests, downloads, and displays the gathered data. FC will be available for both iOS and Android devices. In addition to supporting informal learning from the airplane window, this system has great potential to be adapted for ground level use. Similar in content and scope to the popular Roadside Geology book series, a mobile app could present relevant geoscience information on road trips or hikes, and do so even where connectivity is absent.

该奖项将开发一款名为Flyover Country(FC)的移动应用程序，通过在用户登机前下载基于飞行路径的条状数据，将相关兴趣点(POI)和地图数据带给飞行中的用户，而不需要飞行中的Wi-Fi。GPS(全球定位系统)在飞机模式下运行，允许精确的航班跟踪，为及时和相关的POI查看提供提示。由于每天约有450万人乘坐飞机，FC的潜在受众是巨大的，其在地球科学推广方面的潜力也是如此。这款APP将在好奇心被激发的时候直接向用户提供高质量的地学信息，从而提高公众的科学素养，激励和支持一代地球科学家的发展。FC也可以很容易地用于STEM教育，其结构将为各种类型的地球空间地球科学数据的公开提供一个平台，形成新的教育和研究基础设施。通过将地图视图、文章、音频、视觉辅助工具和从平面窗口鸟瞰相结合来可视化地球科学，将允许科学家和公众培养新的问题、想法、关系和灵感。此外，FC可以改善数据可获得性的当前状态和数据集整合的潜力，同时增加对改进地球科学和其他领域的数据发现的激励。该应用程序的开发将分为两个主要任务：(1)地图和POI的地理空间获取，这可能在设备(服务器端)之外完成，以及(2)设备上请求、下载和显示收集的数据的用户界面。FC将同时适用于iOS和Android设备。除了支持从飞机窗口进行非正式学习外，该系统还具有巨大的潜力，可用于地面使用。在内容和范围上与广受欢迎的路边地质学系列图书类似，移动应用程序可以呈现有关公路旅行或徒步旅行的相关地学信息，即使在没有连接的情况下也可以这样做。