Participatory sensingThe NoiseTube project

Nicolas Maisonneuve, Associate Researcher, SONY CSL Paris

Issue 1: Scarcity of fine-grained data

Issue 2: Limited role of citizens

Environmental management

Change of paradigm in environmental data productionCitizens in the loopChange of paradigm in environmental data productionCitizens in the loop

Environmental/ health Sciences

Social/political sciences

Participatory sensing

Research

Data gathering: a general problem

Water: limited accurate info on water and treatment systemsWater: limited accurate info on water and treatment systems

Food: Agricultural statistics deteriorated over timeFood: Agricultural statistics deteriorated over time

Health: uncertainty in exposure assessmentHealth: uncertainty in exposure assessment

[Poor data, weak agencies hamstring U.N. environmental oversight, NY Times, 2009]

[FAO, Audit 2009][Uncertainty and Data Quality in Exposure Assessment, WHO, 2008]

Poor system of monitoring

Why do we need to involve citizens?

“Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens..” [Principle 10, Rio Declaration, 1992]

But, in reality.. no real participation despite international agreements

Environmental issues = anthropogenic effect

Involvement change of behavior

Opportunity for Participatory Sensing

Empowerment in the digital world

Growing public concern

+ + Democratization of powerful

& sensor-rich phones

New usage of phonephone = personal measurement instrument

Individual level : new user experienceAutonomy to measure local phenomenaNew form of expression/collaboration

Collective level: adaptative sensor network with a limited cost

New usage of phonephone = personal measurement instrument

Individual level : new user experienceAutonomy to measure local phenomenaNew form of expression/collaboration

Collective level: adaptative sensor network with a limited cost

Case study: noise pollution monitoring in EU

EU countries

Health: 170 Million citizens impactedEconomical cost: €12 billion

issues Limited modeling Lack of observation Emission vs exposure

EU Call for real data! “Goals for future research include supplying the missing data.” [EC, 2004] “Every effort should be made to obtain accurate real data“ [EC WG, 2006]

No real exposure data at the individual level

Reality Noise map simulation

VS.

Participatory monitoring of noise pollution using mobile phoneswww.noisetube.net

Goal: Enabling citizens to measure and tag their everyday exposure to inform the community by: supplying real exposure data building a collaborative exposure map of their environment

Goal: Enabling citizens to measure and tag their everyday exposure to inform the community by: supplying real exposure data building a collaborative exposure map of their environment

How does it work?

Human-based sensingHuman-based sensing

No sound sent, only exposure User Privacy, user experience, Scalability

• LAeq(1s) computation (SP)

• Exposure Pattern recognition

sensors (microphone, gps) computer+

Phone-based sensingPhone-based sensing

free tagging of exposure

Diffusion of Raw exposure data

Bi-directional service

Collaborative exposure mapNoiseTube serve Public data commons

Data postprocessing (GIS)Gis server

But, what about the accuracy?

Real-world experimentExperiment In lab

Person equipped with sensors Phone + hand free kit

Professional sensors

?=

Virtual noise sensor =microphone + software

Sound Level Meter (200$)

Collaboration with

After correction: error 2 db

But, what about the accuracy?

?=

Virtual noise sensor =microphone + software

Sound Level Meter (200$)

Real-world experimentExperiment In lab

Phone in Hand Hand free kit Phone in pocket

+/- 2,5 db +/- 4,5 db +/- 6,5 db

correction in lab

phonecorrection

dB

dB

And measuring is not enough..

Hazard identification issues Difficult to identify & separate noise sources from exposure recordings

Opportunity: tagging exposure

which source generated these levels?

Noise mapSound level meter

map with a semantic layer

People are excellent at recognizing noise sources

Using people as sensors to tag the source of their exposures (and thus inform the community)

Real-time collective exposure

Simple visualisations for citizens/ police makers

•Exposure layer•Semantic layer •Contextual information •Real-time

Data aggregation by small piece of street

Connected to the web ecosystem

Data commons accessible via public web API (GeoRSS, JSON) (e.g. tracking new data in an area)

Connected to the people

Real-time spreading of environmental information through social network service

Enhancing the conversation & dissemination (push)

Multiple ways to diffusion information (in progress)

SMS

Empowerment - case study 1: Subway in Paris

Location of the lines reconstructed afterwards (no GPS) (+ PlaceEngine?)

No public information about noise in the subway(private data owned by the RATP company)

(2008)

Empowerment - case study 2: Mumbai, India (2009)

Collaboration with NGO Awaaz Foundation organizing a campaign to raise awareness and map Mumbai, (end of september)

(need to adapt the application to the indian phone market)

3rd most noisy city in the world

AFP news

vsMake it real (for real world

experimentation)

• No need new device: Recycling phone• 1st project accessible to the public (June)• 1st subway noise map

Data collected • Personal and geolocated exposure data

(epidemiological studies)• Human-based sensing

Visualization & Sharing• Data aggregation by urban element• (future) pollution information spreaded

via social networks (twitter)

Make it real (for real world experimentation)

• No need new device: Recycling phone• 1st project accessible to the public (June)• 1st subway noise map

Data collected • Personal and geolocated exposure data

(epidemiological studies)• Human-based sensing

Visualization & Sharing• Data aggregation by urban element• (future) pollution information spreaded

via social networks (twitter)

Related projects for air pollution

« sensing atmosphere (taxi driver) Berkeley, 2007

Noisetube

“Mobile Urban Sensing project” Cambridge, 2008

« street sweeper »,Berkeley, 2008

Conclusion

Thanks for your attentionAny question?

Nicolas Maisonneuve

www.noisetube.net