All of our phones contain a number of sensors quietly doing their jobs every day. You might know your phone has GPS, biometric sensors, and magnetometers, but many smartphones also sport barometers to measure air pressure and a small number can even measure ambient air temperature. Now, a worldwide climate science project wants to use sensor data from Android phones linked to satellites to improve weather forecasting for everyone.
It's not that you can get money for your metadata (does Facebook pay you?), and yes it does have value for scientific projects such as this one, but it does show it holds value anyway even for valuable research. In this case at least, you must download and install the Camaliot app and then give permission (you do read the terms and privacy policy, don't you?). So no-one is taking any data without your knowledge. Once you begin using it, you'll be able to see a leaderboard recording information submitted by others as well.
Camaliot researchers want to use this data and combine it with machine learning to make improvements in weather forecasting models. Another goal is to track ionospheric changes to help monitor space weather as well. The project has even larger ambitions for the future if it takes off, possibly one day collecting sensor information from devices connected to the Internet of Things.
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Major climate science project wants to use your Android's GPS to improve weather forecasting#
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As long as they don't call it Skynet
