Picture Post

Picture Post is a citizen science app to view and upload pictures at Digital Earth Watch (DEW) Picture Post sites.

* Join the Picture Post Network by taking pictures or starting your own Picture Post.
* Registration is not necessary to use this app. It is needed in order to upload pictures.
* Visit http://picturepost.unh.edu/ for more details and to register.

DEW is an exciting environmental monitoring program open to the public. Using digital and mobile technologies, participants collect and share their own data, study and analyze their findings and contribute towards improving their own communities.

The key message of DEW is that our environment is changing in dynamic ways, but often on a time scale that most of us don’t notice or with a subtlety our senses can’t detect. DEW supports environmental monitoring by citizens, students and community organizations through digital photography and satellite imagery.

A Picture Post is simply an octagon placed in the center of a round disk and secured to a post anchored in the ground or onto a building. Using the post to position the camera, the complete landscape may be photographed in less than a minute. Anyone can install a picture post to monitor his or her local landscape!

Power of Citizen Science

During their research, scientists often collect relatively small amounts of high quality data that are typically limited in geographical scope. Citizen science efforts are regularly used to expand the amount and spatial coverage of scientifically valuable data. Digital photographs play an important role as a permanent record of environmental change, and citizen involvement in taking and sharing pictures is essential for collecting the kinds of information that local communities and global researchers alike need now and in the future to understand the health of our environment and to take effective action when necessary to improve environmental health. By joining the Picture Post Network and installing a post in your local area, you make an important contribution to these efforts.