Open Planet Ideas, the brainstorming contest on ideas to improve the planet run by SONY and the World Wildlife Fund, is moving toward the final idea. There are now just eight top concepts in the running that are vying for the top spot and funding to realize the concept. It’s notable that seven out of the eight have some combination of mapping and sensing.
Following is a short summary of the seven finalists that have a mapping component.
- WaterSource a map of drinking water for water-challenged areas
- Fire detecting devices to protect forests that communicate by satellite to a central visualization hub
- Promoting Train trips with edutainment that adapts the content based upon geographical position to give information about the view from the train window
- Identifying and Recording Wildlife with an interconnected system to allow people in the field to identify species of plants or animals that they don’t know
- A Network of Real-Time Wireless Micro Weather Stations for Microclimate Monitoring connected via satellite to a central site
- GreenpatH reducting CO2 by changing behavior though Peer to Peer and GPS for a “Green maps system”
- Carpool with P2P and GPS cutting emissions from vehicles and overcrowding of road infrastructure
Be sure to visit the site and vote for your favorite. The one outlier that isn’t about sensors or maps suggests a GreenBook magazine for sharing green ideas.
