participatory sensing

Waag has developed its own open source sound meters for Amsterdam Sounds. In this blog we explain which choices have been made and why.

 

Waternet strives to make the participative approach their standard approach in working, when possible and relevant. Waag's Smart Citizen Lab, aimed at citizen science, will help Waternet in taking the first step from pilots to a new policy.

 

On Wednesday 17 July, the first Amsterdecks measuring platform will be festively opened in the Amsterdamse Bos.

 

In the Hollandse Luchten project we map the living environment of the province North-Holland.

 

We have been measuring particulate matter over the past 6 months in Amsterdam. What are the results?

 

How to measure nuclear radiation? Waag hosted a workshop on how to measure radiation with low-cost sensors.

 

An improved 2.1 version of the Smart Citizen Kit is now ready for pre-ordering.

 

Where are we currently in the GammaSense project? In what ways can we measure radiation? And the results of an online survey.

 

We went to take a look in the Amsterdamse Bos, where the first floating, smart platform of the Amsterdecks project is realized.

 

GammaSense develops a citizens measurement network to measure gamma radiation.

 

In the documentary a Citizen Science Revolution, we follow citizen science groups and take a unique look behind the scenes of this European research project with the question: how do we involve communities in mapping their living environment, and how do we turn this into action?

 

What about the various citizens' initiatives to measure air quality in the Netherlands? Stefano Bocconi attended a recent meeting of the RIVM.

 

With GammaSense 2.0 we develop a citizen network for the measurement of radioactive radiation.

 

What about the quality of our swimming water? During this workshop you learn everything about measuring the quality of water.

 

We talk to people of Amsterdam who have a short or long time experience with measuring particulate matter (PM) at home. This time: Nico van Gog.

 

On 22 June, during the WeMakeThe.City festival in Amsterdam, another STARTS Talk was organised. Lucas Evers reports.

 

During this workshop we research noise and noise pollution, explore measuring strategies and use sensors to measure noise.

 

Making cooperative tools for civic participation and citizen science in the field of noise pollution.

 

During this crash course we measure noise in the city by experimenting with sensors and map different types of noise.

 

Do you want to know how healthy the air is that you breathe? Then come on 12 April to 'Jij Maakt de Stad!' at The Student Hotel in Amsterdam.

 

The first online platform to let children build their own sensors, Smart Kids Lab, is now also available in English. In this way children, at home or school, can learn in a playful way to measure their surroundings.

 

The Making Sense-team has published the book 'Citizen Sensing, a toolkit', which describes all methods, lessons and best practices.

 

What exactly is citizen science? And what is its importance? With the presentation of a new book and the first results of the measuring particulate matter.

 

On the Wednesday before Xmas, an enthusiastic group of people gathered at the Waag to assemble an air quality sensor, together with the national RIVM institute.

 

To improve the air quality in the Valkenburgerstraat, the city of Amsterdam will start a trial in March next year with eight so-called CityTrees.

 

The developers of GammaSense believe that citizens should have at home the tools and means to monitor radiation levels. Immediately, inexpensively and with a fair level of accuracy.

 

500 Amsterdammers are measuring the water quality in Amsterdam this summer. For this purpose they are equipped with a Waterbox to perform several tests. Together they will chart the water quality in the city.

 

Community manager Gijs Boerwinkel of Waag will give a presentation about the measuring pilots and prototypes used for the Making Sense project in The Netherlands at the SPARK Makers Event in Den Bosch.

 

At Waag we don’t encounter with architects that often. So the chance to visit REsite festival in Prague that discusses the future of the city with architects on stage, in the crowd and even future architects in the organization was a great opportunity.

 

Why should you measure, when there is nothing to measure? This was the central question at the third meeting in our Making Sense pilot in measuring gamma radiation.

 

In this Smart Citizens MeetUp we want to develop a tool that measures gamma radiation, using your webcam (laptop) or camera (phone) in a web-based application. We have some work done, that we like to show, but we would love your input and ideas on further development as well!

 

During the fifth episode of the Smart Citizen Talks we present young agents of change. How can you take control of your own environment when you are young?

 

What if you could measure nuclear radiation with the camera in your laptop or smartphone? Living near a nuclear power plant, you might take this opportunity very serious.

 

How clean is our air? How many earthquakes take place in The Netherlands? How safe is it to live nearby a nuclear power plant? To get an answer to these questions one needs insight in the available data. These are often not so easy to get - the solution is: to measure the environment ourselves.

 

Interested in the radiation levels in your area? We will conduct workshops in Bergen op Zoom, Eindhoven and Maastricht, where you can help building a measurement platform for radiation. We will work with simple tools, by using your smartphone or laptop camera.

 

Interested in the radiation levels in your area? We will conduct workshops in Bergen op Zoom, Eindhoven and Maastricht, where you can help building a measurement platform for radiation. We will work with simple tools, by using your smartphone or laptop camera.

 

Since the start of the Smart Kids Lab pilot at three elementary schools in Amsterdam, the Smart Citizen Kit made its first appearance at these schools. The citizen sensor is able to measure al sorts of environmental factors such as air quality, noise pollution and temperature.

 

Interested in the radiation levels in your area? We will conduct workshops in Bergen op Zoom, Eindhoven and Maastricht, where you can help building a measurement platform for radiation. We will work with simple tools, by using your smartphone or laptop camera.

 

A smartphone, laptop, tablet or PC with a webcam are in principle suitable to measure gamma radiation. This works best when you cover the camera lens with something that completely blacks all light out, like for instance aluminium foil covered with black tape or alumnium tape.

 

In the project 'Making sense of gamma radiation', Waag investigated the possibilities to design and build new tools that can be used by civilians that want to monitor gamma radiation.

 

Every year at New Year's Eve, a lot of firework is set off to celebrate the coming year. This produces a large amount of particulated matter (PM10/PM2,5). But what we do not know is exactly how much, and how long it takes before it dissappears from our streets.

 

In the last few years, several interesting smart citizen projects have seen the light. Waag has been following these developments closely and has been partnering with Fab Lab Barcelona, for instance, in the implementation of the Smart Citizen Kit. This Arduino-based connector platform has made it easier to connect new sensors to the Internet in order to create more transparency for citizens about the quality of their environment.

 

Frank Kresin of Waag will speak at the 'Smart Citizens in Smarter Cities' seminar at TU Delft on 1 December 2016.

 

This evening, students and researchers from the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam will present the outcome of their research of 12 projects in Amsterdam. Dutch spoken.

 

Frank Kresin (research director at Waag) will speak at the Dutch symposium 'Measuring air quality' by RIVM.

 

What if you can combine the experience from the maker movement to create open source hardware and software to map environmental issues that concern citizens everyday? This blog will show you the process of developing a sensor that was designed to answer questions about air quality from an interested community of citizens.

 

The Smart Kids Lab enables children to map their environment in a playful way, by using modern technology and instruments.

 

In collaboration with GGD Amsterdam, the KNMI, the Long Fonds, Wageningen University, and ECN Netherlands, we rolled out a programme in which citizens cooperated with experts and worked together for several months while learning how to measure their environments with low-cost technologies: Urban AirQ.

 

Taking a jump in refreshing cool canal water during a hot summer day – it feels great, but how healthy is it? Join our third Crash Course to find out. All levels are welcome.

 

A must-visit for everyone who wants to know more about their environment. How to measure noise pollution? Join our second Crash Course to find out. All levels are welcome.

 

How healthy is the air in your neighbourhood? And how can you measure the quality yourself? Join our first Crash Course to find out. All levels are welcome.

 

When traveling to Brussels for a European project, the first things that come to my mind are: the city of Brussels has more political layers than citizens; and the European Commission is a bureaucratic top-down institution, which only costs money and decides what we can and can’t do. Some thoughts about the political centre of Europe that a lot of people have. To go to Brussels for a co-creation workshop for the Making Sense project was the ultimate opportunity to get rid of these stubborn preconceptions.

 

The Dutch newspaper 'Het Parool' brings the news that the first smart 'Amsterdeck' will be placed in Amsterdam soon. The Amsterdecks project aims to offer insights in the water quality and the accessibility of the public waters of Amsterdam for its citizens and visitors.

 

This second edition of the Smart Citizens Talks, we’ll explore a wide range of those actions; bottom- up and grassroots initiatives, initiated by people that care about their city. What issues do they deal with? What strategies proof to be effective? What impact can be expected?

 

Frank Kresin will show at the Campus Party in Utrecht on May 27th how open source software, open source hardware, digital maker practices and open design can be used by local communities to make sense of their environments.

 

The air quality in The Netherlands exceeds European limits. Can a law case help to alter that?

 

The open access Journal of Sensors has published a research paper called 'Citizen Sensing for Improved Urban Environmental Monitoring'.

 

The air quality report is based on measurements environmental organisation Milieudefensie took last year. They researched nearly 60 spots for a year and concluded that the nitrogen dioxide limit was exceeded in eleven places. The air quality is particularly bad on busy urban roads with lots of traffic.

 

This first edition of the Smart Citizen Talks, we’ll explore participatory sensing. How do we collectively measure and make sense of our environment? How do we - along with citizens, scientists, and designers - stay in tune with the ever emerging smart city? How do wé make sense of a (smart) city that likes to make sense of ús instead?

 

Making Sense showed how open-source software, open-source hardware, digital maker practices and open design can be used by local communities to make sense of their environments.

 

From our Amsterdam Smart Citizens Lab we organize a special pilot in 2016 to measure air quality around the Valkenburgerstraat and Weesperstraat, under the name Urban AirQ. Citizens can actively participate in the measuring process.

 

From our Amsterdam Smart Citizens Lab we organize a special pilot in 2016 to measure air quality around the Valkenburgerstraat and Weesperstraat, under the name Urban AirQ. Citizens can actively participate in the measuring process.

 

Marleen Stikker is one of the speakers at the event 'NRC LIve: Internet of Things' on 24 March 2016 in Utrecht.

 

Commissioned by the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat (RWS), Waag has conducted a short research into the information need about air quality.

 

In the past five years, the broad availability of open hardware tools, the creation of online data sharing platforms, and access to maker spaces have fostered the design of low cost and open source sensors that independent communities of citizens can appropriate to engage in environmental action.

 

The official Dutch institute that is measuring air quality, RIVM, has made a handy brochure for those interested in measuring air quality themselves, titled 'Meten voor een gezonde stad' (pdf). It explains the role of citizen science and clearly explains what substances have an influence on air quality. It does so in Dutch.

 

Plume Air Report is an app for iOS and Android, that offers insight in the actual air quality in 150+ countries worldwide.

 

Our latest initiative involves mapping the waters of Amsterdam, to know if they are suitable as swimwater. During a meeting of Water Republic 2025 at Pakhuis de Zwijger, the project Amsterdecks and the website Liquid Commons were presented for the first time. Martin Risseeuw and Ivo de Kler at Waag developed the website and the corresponding datavisualisation of the water currents in Amsterdam.

 

During SAIL 2015, eight different innovative water projects will present themselves to the audience at Pakhuis de Zwijger on 20 August 2015. Each project will show their idea in ten slides.

 

The Amsterdecks project aims to offer insights in the water quality and the accessibility of the public waters of Amsterdam for its citizens and visitors.

 

On 13 May 2015, the first Amsterdam Smart Citizens Lab was held. More than 50 citizens, scientists and technicians gathered to gain more insight in their city. By measuring the city themselves in the next months, to investigate and get into action based on the results.

 

The third edition of the Amsterdam Smart Citizens Lab.

 

The second edition of the Amsterdam Smart Citizens Lab. Information about this event is only available at the Dutch version of this page.

 

In the Amsterdam Smart Citizens Lab, we explore tools and applications to map the world around us.

 

In February of this year the experiment in Amsterdam with Smart Citizen Kit started, in which citizens could measure the environment at their own location with affordable electronics and sensors and share the results online in real time. Now it is time to draw the conclusions and we have put all our findings in a final report (that includes a summary in English at the end).

 

What is the noise intensity level in Amsterdam? In the past months, citizens in Amsterdam have measured their environment.

 

On 16 June 2014 we evaluated the results of our experiment with the Smart Citizen Kit in Amsterdam together with the participants.

 

As part of the Smart Citizen kit project, the artists of Cascoland showed during "Fresh air!" in a public event on June 16th at the Nieuwmarkt what Coughing Shrubs are, how stressed a plant can be, and served a herby soup.

 

How healthy is our environment? What about the air quality and noise levels around your home and can you measure and improve these? As part of the Smart Citizen kit project, the artists of Cascoland show you during "Fresh air!" what Coughing Shrubs are, how stressed a tree can be, and serve you herby soup.

 

On 13 May 2014 we had Hans Berkhout of RIVM as a guest of the Smart Citizen project in Amsterdam.

 

In Amsterdam, the Smart Citizen project started in April 2014. Citizens in Amsterdam are measuring air quality in their own environment.

 

On 16 June 2014 we will evaluate the results of the Smart Citizen project with the participants and partners in the project.

 

On 13 May 2014 we organize the Smart Citizen Café at the Waag, where one can join us to ask their questions about their Smart Citizen Kit, share knowledge and ideas and participants can meet each other

 

Appril, Waag and Sensemakers.rs organize a DIY meetup about the Smart Citizen Kit and the app. With hands-on research into the technical issues, obstacles and additional features.

 

More than seventy people gathered at the Waag to measure the air quality in the city with the Smart Citizen Kit.

 

A thousand volunteers in Antwerp (Belgium) will have a strawberry plant at their homes the next two months. The University of Antwerp want to measure small particles in the air through the leaves of the plants.

 

On February 25, 2014 the first Smart Citizen Kit Install Party took place: a 'man only' event with tech-savvy people.

 

We have tested the Smart Citizen Kit in Amsterdam with citizens to measure the air quality in the city..