The magi behind all things iOS in Safecast Land, Nick Dolezal, is working hard on the new version of the Safecast app (which will allow on demand refreshing of the map data) decided to whip up these alternate visualizations of the Safecast data. These maps show the frequency of samples taken – NOT READINGS OF THOSE…
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HOW EFFECTIVE IS DECONTAMINATION ANYWAY? Does the Japanese government have a clear plan for decontaminating Fukushima Prefecture? Are the aims they’ve stated really feasible? Is anyone really able to keep track of the changing standards and guidelines? Lately the ministries tasked with managing this work, as well as spokespersons from various corners, seem to be…
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http://vimeo.com/channels/safecast/65520001 The above video is a hexacopter with an onboard bGeigie Nano taking radiation readings in flight and broadcasting live via wifi. It’s the result of the just finished week long Safecast hackathon that just took place in Cambridge, MA. There were a number of reasons to focus on a drone during this hackathon. Of…
One of the great utilities of the Safecast project is the ability to collect and analyze environmental data on an unprecedented scale. As Safecast passes the two year mark with collecting radiation data in Japan it is now possible to begin to look back over the changes in radioactivity across different parts of the country…
The biggest limitation Safecast has faced in collecting data is the limited availability of our workhorse device, the bGeigie. The design works great, but it’s expensive (each one costs us about $1000) and time consuming (building one can take an entire week) which results in us having limited numbers of them to keep in use.…
We are getting a lot of questions, both at info@safecast.org and through the Safecast group from concerned people – they all try to understand some aspect of radiation or another. And of course, many people ask similar questions, but without doubt the most often asked question is “Is [something] safe?” or a variation of it.…
Global Survey Corp., which goes by the initials “GLC,” has been mapping Japan’s roads since 2005. Their data is used in many car navi systems, as well as for quite a few specialized applications. For instance, since 2009, the company has been measuring and mapping electromagnetic wave intensity to help customers optimize the placement of…
“YOU CAN’T ALWAYS FIND WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR…..” [Skip to Part 2] At Safecast we assumed from the start that our data should be accurate, easy to understand, informative, well-visualized, and easily accessible. In many respects this simply reflects “best practices” in information design, as well as a vision of social responsibility in which openness…
GOVERNMENT MONITORING POSTS [Part 1 here] In recent months there has been a fair amount of controversy concerning the accuracy of the radiation monitoring posts the government has installed all over Fukushima prefecture, and in some neighboring prefectures as well. We wrote about it back in July, 2012: TEPCO cheating on radiation levels by using…
Hikone 2012-12-19 From One Spike to 45 Blinking LED’s. From one Spike on a Software Scope in a Brazil Bar in Tokyo to 45 Blinking LEDs, the Sound of Fake Digital Crickets in a Science Room in Aizu. (A short summery of part of the flow of the radiation recorded from Cesium in Japan to…