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Agency making $30,000 available for prize competition
The Bureau of Reclamation has announced the first stage of a planned three-stage prize competition for the development of an application framework to support electronic data collection and capture using mobile devices for a diverse range of data collection situations. Reclamation is making $30,000 available for this prize competition. One award will be at least $5,000 and remaining awards being at least $2,500. Ideas must be submitted by July 6, 2017.
Stage one seeks ideas for robust and efficient software architecture concepts and software technologies that would allow the desired application framework to be designed and function as intended. The eventual app framework will enable Reclamation, the U.S. Geological Survey, other federal and non-federal engineers and scientists to more effectively collect and synthesize vital field data at a lower cost. The application needs to be flexible, extensible and an open source to allow future improvements and development of added features by various app developers and users.
Scientists, engineers and technicians are increasingly using mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones to record measurements, document site locations via GPS, and for taking photos and notes in the field. Numerous applications are already available to support general data collection on mobile devices. However, they do not provide the functionality and flexibility needed for the broad range of water and environmental data collection needed by today’s water-business personnel. Most existing apps are unable to interface with field instruments (e.g., sensors and data loggers), and many have limited options for exporting data. Existing apps often lack features to encourage and facilitate standardization of data collection across a given community of practice, including data management planning, data and metadata standards, and data collection protocols, all of which significantly improve data quality, transparency, and sharing within and between communities of practice.
Data collection is critical to water and environmental science and management. Data are routinely collected to monitor infrastructure conditions and identify maintenance priorities, and a wide range of environmental data are collected to characterize habitat conditions, monitor fish and wildlife populations, and support ecosystem restoration programs.
Reclamation plans to invite industry, non-profit organizations, and venture capital representatives to participate as partners and/or official judges of this competition and will be seeking potential business deals with competition participants.
To learn more about Reclamation’s Water Prize Competition Center, go to: https://www.usbr.gov/research/challenges/. To learn more about this prize competition and/or to register, visit https://www.usbr.gov/research/challenges/dataapp.html.
