Sapelli Collector

Name/Title Sapelli Collector
Source University College London Extreme Citizen Science
Category Mobile app/crowdsourcing
Sector Forestry/various
Technology Platform Android
Date started/Timeframe 2014-present
Website/URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/excites/software/sapelli
Primary Language(s) English
Keywords Citizen Science, Literacy, Development, Conservation
Targeted Stakeholder Non-literate and illiterate users; indigenous peoples

Screenshot of website:

Sapelli is an open-source mobile data collection and sharing platform focused on non-literate and illiterate users with little or no ICT experience. In particular, Sapelli’s goal is to empower indigenous communities with a tool that allows them to map and collect digital information on their environment and activities affecting the forests and other resources they depend on using smartphones. Sapelli is named after the endangered sapelli tree, which is important to Pygmy communities as a source of caterpillars. The Sapelli platform consists of three main components: (1) a data collection app for Android devices built around image-based decision trees and icon-driven interfaces; (2) another Android app (called the “relay”) to forward SMS messages; and (3) a server to store the data. All components are implemented in Java. Sapelli also has another optional component, the Sapelli Launcher, which replaces the standard Android UI with a restricted, text-free interface that shows only icons for the allowed set of apps and can be tailored to specific projects and users. The Sapelli platform aims to eventually become an end-to-end solution for data collection, transmission, storage, visualization, editing, and sharing.

The latest publicly available version can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or the latest beta version is available from the Sapelli GitHub page: https://github.com/ExCiteS/Sapelli (download the APK file to your Android device).

Sapelli Architecture
  • a data collection app for Android devices, with pictorial decision trees and icon-driven interfaces;
  • an Android app (called the ‘Relay’) to forward SMS messages;
  • an Android app (called the ‘Launcher’) to replace standard UI with a text-free app launcher;
  • a cloud-hosted server to receive and store data.
Sapelli Data Collection App
  • automatically checks for connectivity;
  • provides option to put device into flight mode between checks to conserve battery;
  • decides what to transmit and how depending on available networks and bandwidth. Data is transferred either by binary, compressed SMS messages that are send to Relay app, or by HTTP (over cellular or Wi-Fi networks);
  • optionally uploads media attachments (photos, audio recordings) to Dropbox.
Sapelli Launcher
  • Provides consistency, prevents unauthorised access to the device’s apps and settings, and is used to:
  • completely replace standard Android UI with a text-free app launcher interface;
  • show only allowed apps;
  • protect apps via pattern lockingmechanism.
Source: Stevens, M; Vitos, M; Altenbuchner, J; Conquest, G; Lewis, J; Haklay, M; (2013) Introducing Sapelli: A mobile data collection platform for non-literate users. Presented at: Fourth annual Symposium on Computing for Development (ACM DEV-4), Cape Town, South Africa. Available at: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1416445/

Applications

Sapelli used to tackle illegal cattle invasions into a protected area.

Poster about Sapelli; source of images above: Stevens, M; Vitos, M; Altenbuchner, J; Conquest, G; Lewis, J; Haklay, M; (2013) Introducing Sapelli: A mobile data collection platform for non-literate users. Presented at: Fourth annual Symposium on Computing for Development (ACM DEV-4), Cape Town, South Africa. Available at: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1416445/

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