Heylhi
HDH. Vaikaradhoo
December 2021 - July 2022
Heylhi is a mobile application that utilizes citizen science and crowd sourcing to gather data on coastal erosion and flooding in the Maldives. The pilot application aimed to implement a measurable monitoring system and calculate the extent to which an island is affected by coastal erosion and flooding over a period of time. The data can then be used to develop end-products such as maps and statistics to support development planning and further research.
This is an initiative funded by the Climate Innovation Challenge (CIC). The Climate Innovation Challenge by Asian Disaster Preparedness Center targeting to crowdsource innovative and disruptive technology solutions from around the world for resilience in South Asia.
SIGS developed and pilot tested a mobile application Heylhi that utilizes citizen science and crowdsourcing to gather data on coastal erosion and flooding in the Maldives. Heylhi is the Maldivian word for the protective vegetation belt along the coast of an island. The use of citizen science combined with a mobile application would be a viable solution to collect low cost data quickly as Maldives has 100% mobile coverage and a large amount of the population use smartphones.
The island of Haa Dhaalu Vaikaradhoo, which experiences heavy erosion and flooding, was chosen to pilot the Heylhiapplication. Six locations along the coast of the island have been identified to measure erosion and markers with a photo frame stand were placed for people to record the shoreline length and upload to the application along with photos of the beach from 3 fixed frames. In addition, users can upload free roaming images of beach erosion and information on flooding due to both coastal surges and heavy rainfall. The application also records damages to people, property and agricultural crops. Selected people from the community were trained initially to test the application so it can be improved before allowing access to the wider community. Though the activities under the ADPC grant has concluded in July 2022, SIGS has been awarded a grant to continue Heylhi project to a second phase. Heylhi 2.0 aims to improve the application, start regular data collection and develop capacity to analyze the data collected.
