Participatory Sensor Networks for Marine Navigation

The primary objective of the proposed endeavor is to build a community-driven marine coastal data harvesting ecosystem that not only provides a benefit to the individuals within the coastal community, but also enhances the data quality, completeness and timeliness of maritime safety and navigation databases. The approach leverages volunteered geographic information to motivate dataset generation for automated analytics. The investigators propose the creation of a participatory sensor network for augmenting conventional marine navigation with timely updates of geospatial features. Aspects investigated include (a) a scalable cloud service that supports geographic objects and geospatial and temporal database query operations, (b) a motivating mobile client app for mariners that promotes interaction, (c) the viability of creating an ultra low cost marine-grade image sensor unit for identifying and coarsely classifying objects, (d) the social and economic forces and attractors in this market that will establish the critical mass of users needed to catalyze adoption, and (e) integration into contemporary data exchange interfaces, including OSM, MapQuest’s Open Geodecoding API, and Google’s Geolocation API. This work will be performed as a collaborative effort between Cell Matrix Corporation and Virginia Tech.