Software Tools for Environmental Study

Dates

June 2001 — August 2002

Principal Investigator

Enrique Vivoni

Problem

Computing tools for field data collection which include mobile and wireless technology are difficult to find and may be created by undergraduate environment engineering students.

Goal

To provide hands-on product development experience to undergraduate environmental engineering majors and to improve environmental data collection through software development.

Overview

The Software Tools for Environmental Study (STEFS) has developed a mobile software application for environmental field studies that streamlines data collection and improves data accuracy. The project focused on creating an electronic field notebook application to integrate the tasks of collecting data from environmental and GPS sensors, storing the data, making computations in the field based on the data, and displaying the data to the field worker and to others through an Internet site.

The STEFS project was an interdisciplinary effort focused on developing software applications for mobile computers (PDAs) to be used for environmental field data gathering. Current technology still largely relies on paper and pencil field notebook. Advances in mobile computing provided the opportunity to develop software for accurate, efficient and inexpensive environmental and geo-positional data gathering through GIS, GPS, sensor and wireless technology.

The project had a strong educational component focused on providing hands-on product development experience to undergraduate environmental engineering majors. Through an undergraduate seminar, students were exposed to Programming for Windows CE, technologies for field studies and entrepreneurship in the software industry. Student projects resulted in a system prototype that was field tested during a trip to New Zealand and Australia, offered under the auspices of the MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department. In addition, advanced computing technologies for the project were explored by a sizeable group of CEE Master of Engineering students.

"Developing new technology for environmental field studies has motivated environmental engineering undergraduates to think about new ways of making an impact to their future profession through the use of information technology." — Enrique Vivoni, Principal Investigator

Conclusion by the Principal Investigator

In the process of developing applications for environmental and geopositional data collection, our research group has been successful in:   conceptualizing, planning, scooping, creating, testing, and improving a system for mobile filed data collection during environmental studies that integrates GPS/GIS/wireless and environmental sensor technology; demonstrating that environmental field studies are enhanced with technology and aided through the use of mobile and internet mapping; and demonstrating that hands-on teaching for environmental undergraduates is a useful means for motivating creativity and interest in computing and programming. (Enrique Vivoni, PI)

Project Output

Publications

Real-time Streaming of Environmental Field Data, submitted to Computers and Geosciences.

GIS-based Water Quality Sampling and Modeling, to be submitted to Journal of the American Water Resources Association.

Development of Mobile PDA Computing Applications for Hydraulics and Water Quality Field Measurements, Ninth International Hydraulic Information Management Conference.

Development of Software Tools for Environmental Field Studies using Arc PAD, ESRI International User Conference.

Real-time Field Data Mapping, URISA International User Conference.

Press

Students Make, Test New Tools for Environmental Field Sampling Civil and Environmental Engineering Newsletter. View article

Environmental Engineering Goes Wireless Technology Review, 77 Mass Ave. View article

Environmental field work gets high-tech boost. Tech Talk, January 9, 2002. View article

Presentations

HydroSoft 2002 Conference (May, 2002)

ESRI User Conference (July, 2002) - Abstract Submitted

JAWRA Annual Conference (Nov, 2002) - Abstract Submitted

URISA Conference (Oct, 2002) - Abstract Submitted

Ralph M. Parsons Lab (Feb, 2002) - Invited Lecture

Microsoft Research (March, 2002) - Invited Lecture

ATEEC Environmental Fellows Institute (June, 2002) - Invited Lecture

Links

Software Tools for Environmental Study