SCAPE Water Quality App

Get the latest version of the SCAPE App (1.8.0) using the links above.  

The SCAPE Water Quality App has been developed for educators, students, citizen scientists, and researchers engaged in water-monitoring and data-collection efforts. The App automatically determines user location, date, and time of day.  It aids in the calculation of in-stream flow, provides a framework for water chemistry sampling, and equips the researcher with an easy-to-follow and richly illustrated guide for keying out and recording benthic macroinvertebrates. Once users log data in the field, they can export it directly from their personal devices to shared online databases for further study and comparative analysis with other users. The SCAPE Water Quality App provides the user with a tool for recording the majority of the physical (e.g., streamflow and turbidity), chemical (e.g., conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrates) and biological indicators (including some 22 benthic macroinvertebrates) needed to determine water quality. The SCAPE Water Quality App is available for Apple (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) and Android (phones and tablets) mobile devices via the Apple Store and Google Play.

SPECIAL FEATURES of the SCAPE App:

• FREE and Open-source. Easy to download from both the Apple and Google Play Stores

• Works on both Apple (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) and Android (phones and tablets)

• User location is shown on a live map and lat/long are automatically entered.

• Water quality is assessed using three different parameters—physical, chemical, and biological.

• A new camera feature allows unlimited photos to be captured and catalogued.

• An auto-calculated "biotic index" provides an indication of water quality from the numbers and kinds of macroinvertebrates collected.

• Nearly 100 photos and line drawings of macroinvertebrates in both their juvenile and adult forms are provided to aid in the identification of these biological indicators.

• Videos illustrate the characteristic behaviors of macroinvertebrates in their natural settings.

• The App supports export functions to standard databases in Google Sheets or Excel.

• Bluetooth-enabled wireless connectivity with standard water quality instruments.

The SCAPE Water Quality App project is led by Professor Dan Collins and was developed with the help educators, scientists, designers, and programmers at the Herberber Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, the Luminosity Lab at ASU, the Telluride Institute in Telluride, Colorado, and the GIS Collective in Berlin, Germany.

Bitly link for editors:  https://bit.ly/3C85Zum 

New Bitly link (20240627) for the general public:  https://bit.ly/3eNehjS 

The above images are  screen shots from the SCAPE  Water Quality App.  Concept and Interaction Design by Dan Collins.  Programming by the Luminosity Lab at ASU and the GISCollective, Berlin, Germany.  Graphic Design by Michelina Calo.