The Public Laboratory
Have an idea for the Challenge? Learn more »
PLOTS Balloon Mapping Kit – get started for $95
You can always assemble your own, but for a quick start PLOTS now offers a retail kit. You supply camera & helium. Read more »
PLOTS Archive maps republished on Google Maps/Earth
Maps produced by members of the Public Lab community were recently republished by Google »
PLOTS Spectrometer kits
PLOTS offers $40 kits to build your own optical spectrometer. Measure the spectrum of light bulbs or help develop techniques for analyzing water samples »
Infrared vegetation monitoring
Balloon mapping with DIY infrared cameras »
Contamination monitoring
Brooklyn activists document the Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus Canal and other sites of industrial contamination »
Public Lab is a community where you can learn how to investigate environmental concerns. Using inexpensive DIY techniques, we seek to change how people see the world in environmental, social, and political terms.
Community members develop tools and write open source instructions as research notes, wiki pages, printable guides, and videos, so others know how to use these tools, and many have started local groups in their area. We also provide support through our mailing lists. This works because everyone both learns from and helps each other out, and we all contribute to the growing body of documentation as we go.
Join now to take part!
This community began as the Grassroots Mapping project, an effort to produce Do-It-Yourself satellite imagery with balloons and kites, most notably during the 2010 BP oil spill. We are now broadening our scope to explore new inexpensive and community-led means to measure and explore environmental and social issues.
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Research Notes
Activity
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On Jun 18, The creator of [GrassrootsMapping.org](http://grassrootsmapping.org) and co-founder and Research Director for the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science, Jeff designs mapping and civic science tools and professionally flies balloons and kites. Notable software he has created include [the vector-mapping framework Cartagen](http://cartagen.org) and [orthorectification tool MapKnitter](http://mapknitter.org), as well as open spectral database and toolkit [Spectral Workbench](http://spectralworkbench.org). He is a fellow at MIT's [Center for Civic Media](http://civic.mit.edu), on the advisory board of [Personal Democracy Media's WeGov](http://techpresident.com/topics/wegov) and an advocate of open source software, hardware, and data. He co-founded Vestal Design, a graphic/interaction design firm in 2004, and directed the Cut&Paste Labs project, a year-long series of workshops on opensource tools and web design in 2006-7 with Lima designer Diego Rotalde. Jeff holds an MS from MIT and a BA in Architecture from Yale University, and spent much of that time working with artist/technologist Natalie Jeremijenko, building robotic dogs and stuff. To find out more, visit Unterbahn.com. * https://github.com/jywarren * http://unterbahn.com * http://unterbahn.com/thesis/ updated Page: About Public Lab
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Adam-Griffith commented on Adam-Griffith's Note "Folly Beach, SC - a detailed look at a $3 million beach "restoration"" on Jun Tuesday
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Adam-Griffith commented on scaramel's Note "Video: Kitemappers" on Jun Tuesday
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On Jun 13, Caterina Scaramelli created a new Note: Video: Kitemappers
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On Jun 12, Stewart Long updated Map: Rotsoord. Utrecht, Netherlands.
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On Jun 12, Stewart Long updated Map: Rotsoord. Utrecht, Netherlands.
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On Jun 12, Stewart Long updated Map: Rotsoord. Utrecht, Netherlands.
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On Jun 12, Hagit Keysar updated Page: MapKnitter Help
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sonofaquark commented on sonofaquark's Note "Pascal's Wager" on Jun Wednesday
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On Jun 10, www.quiviracoalition.org created a new Note: Test 1
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On Jun 9, Shannon created a new Note: Public Lab community newsletter 6.9.13
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tomh4236 commented on nedhorning's Note "Canon A2200 NIR conversion" on Jun Wednesday
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On Jun 5, Adam D. Griffith is the Director of the Rivercane Restoration Project through the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines (PSDS) at Western Carolina University. He received a BS degree in Biology from Roanoke College in 1999 (Omicron Delta Kappa) and was subsequently accepted to Teach for America. He taught 6th grade science in the Houston Independent School District in Texas for three years before becoming a kayak instructor taking him on numerous trips to the beaches of the United States, Panama, and Europe. He received his MS degree in Biology from Western Carolina University in 2008 studying the native bamboo Arundinaria gigantea. Since 2008, he has been a research scientist at PSDS where he launched coastalcare.org with the Santa Aguilla Foundation. He currently directs the communities and sea-level rise research. In 2011, he co-founded the Public Laboratory with 6 others by securing a $500,000 grant from the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation. As a result, his writings can be found on the PBS IdeaLab blog, publiclaboratory.org, and others. He has presented his research with the Public Laboratory across the United States, Mexico, and Europe. Selected Publications Tanner, B.R., Kinner, D.A., Griffith, A.D., Young, R.S. & Sorrell, L.M (2011). Presence of Arundinaria gigantea (river cane) on numerous non-wetland sites suggests improper ecological classification of the species. Wetlands Ecology and Management. 19(6): 521-532. Coburn, A.S., Griffith, A.D. & Young, R.S. (2010). Inventory of coastal engineering projects in coastal national parks. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRTR???2010/373. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. Griffith, A.D., Kinner, D.A., Tanner, B.R., Moore, A., Mathews, K.G. & Young, R.S. (2009). Nutrient and physical soil characteristics of rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea) stands, western North Carolina. Castanea. 74(3): 224-235. updated Page: Classification
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dan.beavers commented on patcoyle's Note "Prototype juice bottle rig on R-10 UAir quad" on Jun Wednesday
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On Jun 4, Stewart Long updated Map: Montgomery Bell State Park. Burns, Tennessee
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On Jun 4, Stewart Long created a new Map: Montgomery Bell State Park
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On Jun 4, Stewart Long updated Map: Rotsoord. Utrecht, Netherlands.
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On Jun 4, Stewart Long created a new Map: Rotsoord. Utrecht, Netherlands.
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On Jun 4, Stewart Long updated Map: Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.
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On Jun 4, Stewart Long created a new Map: Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.







