# Pocket Science portfolio

Pocket Science builds and supports citizen science, crowd science, science-backed public apps, scientific instruments, data platforms and complete observatories. Science is always involved, but the portfolio does not force every project under one label.

This portfolio is evidence of four connected capabilities: translating research methods into understandable participant actions; attracting and supporting public participation; connecting apps to sensors, data and researcher workflows; and operating useful services beyond launch.

## Active flagship work

- [iSPEX](https://pocket.science/case-studies/ispex/) — Pocket Science built iSPEX1 for Leiden University and then took over iSPEX development. A phone and optical attachment supported a nationwide Dutch citizen air-quality campaign. The resulting aerosol maps agreed with professional measurements and showed more local detail than satellite data where observations were dense. Plymouth Marine Laboratory successfully derived above-water remote-sensing reflectance with iSPEX2 in 2025. Research and validation continue; no units are currently available to order.
- [Black Hole Finder](https://pocket.science/case-studies/black-hole-finder/) — actively maintained astronomy observatory combining public classification, researcher workflows and machine-learning support. It was a SciStarter Top Ten project by participation in 2024 and was featured on the NRC front page on 30 April 2026.
- [Dark Sky Meter suite](https://pocket.science/case-studies/dark-sky-meter/) — Dark Sky Meter and Pro for iPhone, plus continued development of Loss of the Night for Android. Phone-camera sensing and ongoing calibration are backed by active support.
- [Mini Secchi](https://pocket.science/case-studies/mini-secchi/) — an actively maintained physical water-observation method connected to mobile and web participant guidance and research data services, developed through Horizon 2020 MONOCLE.

## Complete project archive

The wider archive includes:

- [Transit of Venus](https://pocket.science/case-studies/transit-of-venus/) — crowd science made for Astronomers Without Borders, testing whether worldwide smartphone observers could repeat the historic astronomical-unit method. The app let people practise the timing before taking part; a new value for one astronomical unit was not the intended scientific outcome.
- Arctic March — sponsored by RIVM and following Berenice Nooteboom's polar research with iSPEX1.
- Aware Hero — science-backed public-engagement application made for Oxfam Novib; not presented as a citizen-science project.
- Digital Diversity Wheel — science-backed app built for farmers in Zimbabwe and Uganda, sponsored by Oxfam Novib and Wageningen University; not presented as a citizen-science project.
- MOBIS — an early citizen-science service in the European Open Science Cloud Marketplace; reusable mobile observation, offline collection, sensors and research services. [EGI identifies DDQ: Pocket Science as its provider](https://www.egi.eu/case-study/cos4cloud/).
- MONOCLE — Horizon 2020 water-observation apps, sensors, campaigns and data.
- Run4Science — developed with COS4CLOUD, connecting runners, smartphones and environmental sensors.
- Mijn Hemel — Dutch mobile astronomy and sky-information application.
- Occultation — crowdsourcing the shape of a near-Earth object from observers timing a stellar occultation at different locations.
- TriAtlas — interactive astronomical atlas on mobile.
- Turfberg Radio Astronomy Monument — a location-based tribute to the history of Dutch radio astronomy.
- Zicht op Licht — public participation around artificial light, made for the University of Groningen.
- Seeing Stars Leiden — an app and shared data view supporting the 2022 citywide lights-out citizen-science experiment in Leiden.
- Dark Sky Meter IAU — the accessible public edition of Dark Sky Meter, sponsored by the International Astronomical Union.
- Loss of the Night — guided naked-eye star observations on Android; development continued from IGB by Pocket Science.

## Independent evidence

- [Nature: Technology — Smartphone science](https://www.nature.com/articles/nj7596-669a)
- [EGI: Boosting Citizen Science with Deep Machine Learning](https://www.egi.eu/case-study/cos4cloud/)
- [SciStarter / Discover: Citizen Science 2024 Wrapped](https://www.discovermagazine.com/citizen-science-2024-wrapped-46902)
- [NRC: De jacht op een zwart gat begint op je telefoon](https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/04/30/de-jacht-op-een-zwart-gat-begint-op-je-telefoon-a4925690)
- [Scientific American: 8 Apps That Turn Citizens into Scientists](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/8-apps-that-turn-citizens-into-scientists/)

## Continuity

Pocket Science often continues where funded research projects stop. Apps still need updates, participants still need answers and data still carries value after a grant. That commitment also established a hard operating principle: continuity cannot depend on unlimited unpaid work. Ownership, maintenance, support and the route beyond funding should be designed and funded from the start.

Contact: [web@pocket.science](mailto:web@pocket.science)