Computer programmers and engineers from the Delmarva region worked with NASA the weekend of April 11-12, to solve one of the world’s biggest challenges, locating fresh water resources around the globe.
Recent graduates from Salisbury University and University of Delaware participated in the annual NASA Space Apps Challenge — a two-day hackathon where engineers, programmers, scientists and artists from around the world connect in real time to solve 50 global challenges presented by the agency.
This year 133 locations from 80 countries participated.
As the clock ticked down on the weekend the Salisbury team had a working mobile Android application that connects with a database to map freshwater resources around the world, said Rob Close, a 2015 graduate of Salisbury University and the organizer of the team. He said the application works with a web service the team created over the weekend.
“Our application is a tool that field technicians can use to find, track, and monitor freshwater sources at any location on the planet,” Close said. “The website is designed and ready to be deployed to a hosting server.”
The applications gives technicians a Google map view to access and update information in the database.
Close said the application could be easily developed to work with other handheld devices.
“We think this [project] was pretty important because water stress is a pretty important issue that we’re seeing in America and all over the world, especially in developing nations,” said Andrew Campbell, who majored in information system and engineering at University of Delaware.
“Anyone can download [the application and use it] to give us information about usable water sources,” said Matt Thorne, who recently graduated from Salisbury with a degree in Math and Computer Science.
The team named their app, Where Did the Water Go?
The Salisbury team advanced to the next level of judging by NASA – as did another Maryland team from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, which also worked on the water mapping challenge.
But only five finalists in each category will advance in May for a final round of judging by NASA executives.
This was the fourth International Space Apps Challenge and the second year a team from the Shore was sponsored by hotDesks.org in Salisbury.
“We are proud to sponsor this event because it’s becoming crystal clear that Delmarva isn’t just for agriculture anymore,” said Mike Thielke, Executive Director of Easton-based hotDesks.org. “We can be formidable where education, entrepreneurship and technology converge to grow innovative businesses right here on the peninsula. We have world class colleges and universities with robust business and science programs that can be leveraged to build job-creating enterprises in our communities.”
hotDesks.org is a co-working space, with locations in Easton and Salisbury that supports the growing technology sector on the Shore with office space, entrepreneurship programs and mentoring.
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