Ubiquitous Access for Local Water Management Through HCI Based App Development

Abstract

Climate conditions are uncertain, thus it is crucial to get advance information on parameters such as precipitation at various regions to plan sustainable living. It is useful to obtain this information anywhere and anytime to facilitate local water management. Accordingly, the main goal of our project is to develop a Hydro-climate Data App that estimates water related climactic parameters at given locations based on global predictive models in Earth and Environmental Science. We consider climate data for regions in New Jersey. Users are required to input a location and year for which the app displays the latitude and longitude, and predicts the output on precipitation, humidity and temperature. This app is interactive and user-friendly, deploying aspects of HCI (Human Computer Interaction), such that expert as well as non-expert users can easily access and interpret it. Challenges in this work include procurement and deployment of accurate prediction techniques. To address these, we research various scientific models, e.g. CCSM (Community Climate System Model) and embed suitable ones into the app using HCI aspects such as ethnographic studies. As evident from our evaluation, this app is beneficial to environmental scientists, students and local residents. It is useful for research on climate change and sustainability. This work fits the scope of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of the United Nations, mapping to at least 3 of its 17 goals. It addresses the theme of IoT (Internet of Things) that entails providing Internet based information in everyday devices for ubiquitous access.