Speaker
Description
Crowdsourcing has become an established and valuable method for environmental observation and monitoring using the participation and collective effort of individuals in various contexts and geographic areas. More recently, crowdsourcing or citizen science tools have been also used to collect multisensory information, such as noise, sound sources, perceived soundscape quality, and experiences and values in different types of natural environments. However, such data is often collected and used in silos. The INAR RI eLTSER research infrastructure project lead by the Finnish Environment Institute aims to bring different citizen data sources together by developing the Open311 based Citobs platform. The platform aims to provide and manage a single digital infrastructure for varied services e.g. by using adaptable questionnaires for different research and planning uses, and user groups with different levels of professionalism. We present a pilot case study of testing the Citobs Platform in Helsinki Central Park, where we use incentive-based approaches to collect data on perceived soundscape quality of the park. We also discuss the broader applications of the platform in natural areas and the opportunities for scaling it up at the national level.