IBM has just released a pretty neat iPhone app to help monitor water conditions and levels of California creeks. Creek Watch is completely free and allows anyone to report their photos and observations based on GPS coordinates.
IBM designed the app to make it as easy as possible for local residents and visitors to contribute productively to the management of the state’s ecosystem, and to do so without any expert knowledge.
“Creek Watch lets the average citizen contribute to the health of their water supply — without PhDs, chemistry kits and a lot of time. Harnessing the crowdsourced data movement for a cause people care about is a win-win-win for citizens, local water boards, and IBM’s desire to solve big data challenges.”
I often find myself photographing in the field along creek beds around Southern California so I will certainly by contributing to this great effort.