Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Barometers In iPhones Mean More Crowdsourcing In Weather Forecasts

Posted by timothy on from the under-pressure dept.

cryptoz (878581) writes Apple is now adding barometers to its mobile devices: both new iPhones have valuable atmospheric pressure sensors being used for HealthKit (step counting). Since many Android devices have been carrying barometers for years, scientists like Cliff Mass have been using the sensor data to improve weather forecasts. Open source data collection projects like PressureNet on Android automatically collect and send the atmospheric sensor data to researchers.

4 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. I wish I could read by CO_gun_toter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I read the lead in three times, each time reading HeaLthKit as HeathKit. I must be officailly an old fart...

  2. Re:haha by Wookact · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apples reality distortion field. Remember, its not useful until apple does it, and then once apple does it, it becomes innovation.

  3. Re:haha by iluvcapra · · Score: 3, Funny

    Her brother is the Kwisatz Haderach...

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
  4. Re:iOS and OSX by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now with even less privacy!!!

    They can already triangulate you anyway based off cell tower data, along with any number of phone-home apps that you joyfully agreed to the EULA.

    Even I'm not seeing a privacy correlation between barometric pressure and YOU (adjusts tin-foil hat)

    Now they can tell how high you are.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!