Citizen science technology in the real world
Active research platforms and a citizen science app development history beginning with Transit of Venus in 2012.
Pocket Science has worked across air quality, water observation, astronomy and light pollution. The subject changes; the engineering pattern is consistent: understand the method, design the participant action, preserve the scientific context and operate the complete system.
iSPEX
Apps, processing and deployment around smartphone spectropolarimetry.
Black Hole Finder
People and machine learning supporting an active astronomy programme.
Mini Secchi
A guided field workflow for water colour and clarity.
Dark Sky Meter
Night-sky brightness measurement through a consumer phone.
More than a decade of citizen science apps
The four detailed case studies above are not the whole portfolio. They sit inside a longer history of public science applications, commissioned research tools, sensing systems and open-science infrastructure. Some remain active; others completed the campaign, event or funded programme they were built for.
- Transit of Venus
The worldwide astronomy app that started Pocket Science in 2012. - iSPEX 1 & 2
Citizen participation, smartphone optics, acquisition guidance, processing and research infrastructure for spectropolarimetry. - Dark Sky Meter
Phone-camera measurement of night-sky brightness. - Loss of the Night
Guided public observation of artificial light at night. - Reusable citizen science observatory platform (MOBIS)
Mobile and web observation, project data and interoperable services developed further through Horizon 2020 COS4CLOUD. - Mini & Midi Secchi
Mobile field methods for water colour and clarity in the Horizon 2020 MONOCLE lineage. - Black Hole Finder
An active mobile and web astronomy observatory connecting public classification to research follow-up. - Zicht op Licht
A citizen science application from our light and observation work. - Digital Diversity Wheel
A commissioned public-facing research application.
A completed project still matters. Citizen science software is often built for a campaign, grant or rare event. It demonstrates our ability to learn a subject, translate the method, launch for real participants and deliver within a research programme.
From focused apps to complete observatories
Projects in this portfolio range from focused apps to complete observatories. Pocket Science has delivered participant apps and websites, project dashboards, administration, data exports, APIs, processing, self-hosted infrastructure and long-term support. AI and machine learning can be added where they genuinely help the research. Every component can be tailor-made, while the complete system remains convenient to operate.
What this demonstrates
This project is part of the evidence behind Pocket Science’s custom development work. If your research requires a participant-facing method, scientific sensing, classification or production data infrastructure, tell us what you are trying to make possible.