Kifisos River Basin, Attica, Greece

A SCENT Pilot Area

Upcoming Campaign: 3rd Scent Pilot Campaign in Attica

Date: 13-14 February 2019

Over two days, Scent partners will test the new Scent Explore gaming app during the third pilot campaign in the Kifisos River Basin, Athens.

The Scent team will be using the augmented reality function of Scent Explore to observe urban obstacles at different points of the Kifisos river.

Scent is also organising a workshop to present the new tools and applications of the Scent Toolbox to local authorities of the region.

You can learn more about Scent Explore and download the app here.

Results from the 2018 Attica Pilot Campaigns

In 2018, Scent organised its first two pilot campaigns for the Attica region. The preliminary results of these campaigns are now available.

178 citizen science volunteers from business, universities and other organisations in the local community took part in campaigns. The volunteers had fun testing the new Scent Explore and Scent Measure gaming apps along the banks of the Kifisos river.

Overall, the volunteers collected 2982 individual pieces of data, concerning water level measures, soil moisture, air temperature, and land use/land cover images.

Scent will organise three more campaigns in the Attica region during 2019. The data collected by the volunteers during all these campaigns will help to create more accurate and up to date flood maps for the region. These flood maps will help policymakers and local authorities to better understand, analyse, manage and prevent flooding in Attica.

Past Campaign: 1st Scent Pilot Campaign in Attica, 14, 16, 17, 23 September 2018

In September, volunteers gathered at the Kifisos river basin in Athens to be among the first to test the new Scent Explore gaming app. Volunteers downloaded the app to their smartphones and used its augmented reality function to take pictures of Scent creatures ‘hiding’ along the Kifisos river. The pictures taken by the volunteers contain valuable information about changes in land use and land cover, which are key factors impacting flooding.

Take a look at some of our photos from the campaign below!

Past Campaign: 2nd Scent Pilot Campaign in Attica, 15-18 November 2018

During Scent’s second citizen scientist campaign in Attica, volunteers gathered data concerning river parameters and soil conditions using the new Scent Measure and Scent Explore gaming apps. Using Scent Explore, the citizen scientists were able to take short videos of a ball moving downstream, which is then used to calculate the water velocity of the river. The volunteers also used the augmented reality function of the app to capture water level measurements.

With the Scent Measure app and a portable sensor, the volunteers were able to take measurements of soil moisture and temperature, as well as air temperature. After placing the sensor into the soil, the volunteers received the measurements directly to their phone through the Scent Measure app.

Take a look at some of the photos from the campaign below!

Scent and the Kifisos River Basin

The Scent pilot in Greece relates to the urban environment around the Kifisos river in Attica. This covers app. 380km2, and almost 60% of its watershed is urbanised (metropolitan Athens area). Its hydrographic network has been drastically altered due to distinct land-use and 68% of the basin is occupied by urban expanses – host to 4 million citizens.

The city’s rapid development occurred without an appropriate plan for drainage works: Parts of the drainage network were shrunk and converted into streets whilst critical river cross sections were diminished. When floods occur they have a significant impact on infrastructure, especially at the downstream part, including Piraeus port, a major transportation hub that is served by railway network and major roads.

Partner HRTA, a non-profit voluntary organisation that is involved in urban search and rescue operations for Kifisos floods and partner Region of Attica, the regional policy maker for environmental and civil protection issues, will co-organise a large scale citizen campaign with field visits.

Citizens will take on-site images from the pilot site, enriching the existing dataset. A larger group of citizens will participate in the online gaming apps for annotating already available images of the pilot.