With greater than 25 years of operations, the Worldwide House Station continues to represent discovery and cooperation for the advantage of humanity. Since 2012, observers have interacted with the house station by means of NASA’s Spot the Station web site, an online browser-based device that features interactive maps for customers to trace the station and discover viewpoints closest to their location.  

A decade after the web site’s launch, NASA sought to boost public entry to this functionality with a cell app. NASA launched the Spot the Station app on IOS and Android in 2023. As of Dec. 2024, it has greater than 770,000 customers in 227 nations and territories across the globe, based on Ensemble, who NASA contracts to take care of assist of the app. 

Revamping the Spot the Station expertise was extra than simply a chance for NASA to make enhancements; it allowed NASA to assemble direct enter from customers by involving them within the growth of the brand new app. House Operations internet and platform lead, Allison Wolff, pitched the thought to publicly crowdsource the app’s growth. 

In 2022, Wolff and her staff supported the discharge of three separate crowdsourcing competitions, the place international communities have been invited to design key parts of the brand new Spot the Station app. Individuals submitted purposeful designs, together with an augmented actuality part not supplied on the net model and interfaces for screens similar to login and sign-up home windows. A number of winners have been awarded prizes totaling $8,550 throughout the three challenges.  

As the previous Innovation Strategist in NASA’s Middle of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, a part of the company’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program, Wolff was nicely acquainted with the ingenuity and outcomes that stem from public-private collaborations. 

“NASA strives to include inclusion and innovation into how we function. We additionally collaborate with minds exterior the company as a result of one of the best concepts can come from very stunning locations,” stated Wolff. 

Not solely have been the profitable designs used within the last product, however the growth staff gained worthwhile suggestions and worldwide views from everybody who participated within the competitors. 

“If you use the ability of the gang and get a constant message a couple of part or an interface, that’s a very good indicator of what’s user-friendly,” stated Wolff. 

Crowdsourcing continues to boost the app’s performance, together with translating the app into six languages, together with Spanish, French, and German, due to consumer contributions. As well as, the app’s code is open supply, enabling anybody to switch and use the code for their very own tasks and assist the device’s development. NASA will proceed to replace and enhance the app with suggestions from the general public.  

Discover extra alternatives: www.nasa.gov/get-involved/