Mariner Report Application (MARApp): Crowdsourcing Maritime Weather Conditions

Metron proposes a software framework for crowd-sourcing weather observations in a maritime environment leveraging personal mobile devices. Our proposed App, the Mariner’s Report App (MARApp), draws data from existing sensors in modern smartphones and tablets, as well as meteorological sensors normally found on small marine vessels. Our architecture is modular, extensible, and readily adaptable to new data sources are they become available. The software is designed to collect the data and send it over the cell network to a web-based repository where it is available for user queries and for NOAA use in modeling. MARApp uses innovative methods to incentivize reporting and to “rate” observations. App users can set filters for notifications of weather changes, and specify geographic areas for displaying data. MARApp will also send updates to other social media sites such as Twitter to allow non-participating users to benefit from the additional data. We will base our architecture around our existing Search and Rescue App SARApp, which has been operational on Android and iOS devices since 2012. Our proof-of-concept demonstration will generate a prototype App designed for devices employing the Android OS.