Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Message in a Bottle Tracked on Google Maps

Project Niu

Project Niu is a Hawaiian K-12 science curriculum experiment designed to give students hands-on experience of the technologies used in remotely monitoring the ocean. The project involves tracking high tech "messages in a bottle" that are set afloat in the Pacific Ocean.

The set adrift 'bottles' follow a path similar to floating marine debris, giving students a personal understanding of the widespread damage that can be caused by careless or irresponsible actions.

The site uses Google Maps to track the 'bottles' as they drift in the Pacific Ocean. The map includes tools for pupils to measure distances on the map and draw projected paths. Visitors to the site can also have a go at guessing where the bottle will end up.

The bottles are also collecting data whilst on their journeys. This data on temperature, wave height, humidity etc. can also be viewed on the Project Niu website.

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3 comments:

smokeonit said...

great project! especially when put into context of the plastic trash that is wandering out seas...;-(

Simon said...

Is this linked in with ArcGIS Server, as they have the same application on there servers (in conjunction with Google Maps).

Anonymous said...

This is not linked in with ArcGIS. It's a fully custom app for the project. All the data is coming through Iridium satellite modems that are on the Niu devices.