Space Apps Challenge 2017

NCTUBeach | Let's go to the Beach!

Taipei

Project

The Challenge | Let's go to the Beach!

Build a tool for beach-goers to monitor for hazards and to alert them of precautionary measures for protection on their swim- and surf-filled adventures!

Beach Trip Helper

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This is a convenient application that provides beach goers with hazardous levels of UV radiation, algae warning, and weather warning. Once users choose a specific location, Beach Trip Helper will return corresponding information users need.

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Background

The best way to get away from a hustle and bustle of office's life is no more than go get some shower of sun shine, especially in a subtropical country - Taiwan. Taiwan's beaches are popular and they are often crowded in the peak season.

"The salty smell of the ocean, the sand beneath your feet, the breeze in your hair, and the warmth of the sun– who doesn’t love going to the beach?"

But before heading to your favorite beaches, make sure you have been well-prepared.

According to the World Health Organization, overexposure to sunlight can cause harm to our skin, our eyes, and our immune systems. In fact, protecting ourselves from UV damage, for example by using hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen, can prevent four out of five cases of skin cancer.

Doing sun protection is necessary.

During the summer, popularity on the beach is not synonymous to safety. The rise in the incidence of skin cancers over the past decades is strongly related to recreational exposure. Overexposure to sunlight is widely accepted as the potential cause for harmful effects on the skin, eye and immune system. Fortunately, most cases of skin cancer could be prevented, such as UV damage. Therefore, in order to provide the useful information for preventing beach-goers from the potential hazard, which are, UV damage and drastically changing weather, we determine to develop a tool that alerts them to the precautions they need to take or situations they might meet before setting off for beaches.

Beach trip helper details

"Beach Trip Helper" is an mobile phone application which can provides corresponding suggestions in terms of a specific location users choose to keep them informed of possible hazard such as levels of UV radiation and concentration of algae blooms. Also, additional functions like weather warning and science knowledge layer are available in the app aiming to accomplish real time warning and show informative knowledge behind the data. For example, Beach Trip Helper will tell user to prepare for a rainy day if the weather forecast shows it's about to rain next hour. These weather warnings include rain warning and tide warning. Both of the weather warnings can properly alert users for the coming weather, helping them take actions earlier.

Problem Definition:

Due to the unprecedented high levels of UV radiation and water pollution by algae blooms, beach goers have to take a necessary precaution before enjoy the good time with friends on the beach.

Data Collection:

Data are collected from 1. the database in IBM Bluemix^TM with a plenty of weather information and levels of UV radiation all over the world, and 2. the NASA resources about algae concentration at particular time and locations. Both data sets are updated on the daily basis. There even has predicted UV radiation level data available.

Application Development:

The application was developed in Android Studio as the front end and with back end server coded in Python on Microsoft Azure platform.

Software Features & Functions:

The application is trying to display the data in the simplest manner while users are using the app. It's user-friendly interface, high readability, and real-time update are also favorable. On the other hand, the main purpose of Beach Trip Helper is to provide suggestions which include UV Radiation Warning, Algae Bloom Warning, Weather Change Alert, and Science Bulletin so that beach goers can stay aware of potential hazards and be well-prepared. Hopefully, these functions can provide the better advice for users to make their own decision easier and most importantly, safer.

the future

Beach Trip Helper will prevent more accidents caused by high level of UV radiation and harmful algae bloom

MORE works and contents can be expanded in this app for sure! Games can also play an important role to make the app more complete, interactive and accessible.

Reference

Data Sets

IBM Bluemix^TM: https://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/bluemix/

World Tides: https://www.worldtides.info/

NASA Data: MODIS Chlorophyll-a Concentration

NASA Resources

“Sun Protection.” Ultraviolet radiation and the INTERSUN Programme. World Health Organization. Website Accessed March 2017. http://www.who.int/uv/sun_protection/en/

“Harmful Algal Blooms: Tiny Plants with a Toxic Punch.” National Ocean Service. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. Website Accessed March 2017. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/hab/

“Nutrient Pollution: The Effects.” United States Environmental Protection Agency. Website Accessed March 2017. https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/effects

SO COOL Beach Conditions Reporting System
Weather Underground

NASA's Earthdata site
UV Radiation Earth Observatory Data
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)
ASTER
Chlorophyll concentration, Aqua/MODIS, NASA Earth Observations