ScienceCache: Geocaching for Goals

ScienceCache is a geocaching mobile app that connects the public to places where scientists have questions. Anyone can navigate to a site, take pictures and answer questions posed by scientists about plants, animals, water, or geology. The data is then uploaded to a project database where the scientist can access it. The pilot project on huckleberries and their pollinators will begin in Glacier National Park summer of 2016. One goal of this framework is to allow 'easy entry' for scientists into public data collection and outreach. Scientists use a website to set up routes, including 1 or more sites with the location coordinates, hints and photos to help people find the location, the questions to ask and descriptions of how to answer the questions. The initial version will work on iphones. Features of the app include the ability to work outside of cellular service. Funding and development of the app is a partnership between computer scientists at the Fort Collins Science Center, research ecologist, Dr. Tabitha Graves, and the Community for Data Integration.