Will there be jellyfish on the beach?

MedusApp, the app developed by a team from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the University of Alicante (UA), has introduced this summer a new interactive map that enables users to analyse trends in jellyfish sightings over time.

The app, created in 2018 and now available in six languages, has surpassed 700,000 downloads this month across Android and iOS devices. The main new feature this year is the new web map, which offers a more comprehensive view of jellyfish presence in a specific geographical area. "It allows users to analyse how sightings of different species evolve visually," explains Ramón Palacios, a computer scientist at the UPV and the app's developer.

Since its launch eight years ago, MedusApp has evolved from a project focused on the Mediterranean coastline into a tool used by beachgoers and researchers worldwide. "And as well as having become an international benchmark for finding out whether or not there are jellyfish on a beach, MedusApp is the most downloaded Spanish citizen science app, across all categories, and ranks in the global top 10, according to figures from the Apple App Store and Google Play," points out Eduardo Blasco, also a computer scientist at the UPV and co-developer of the app.

How does it work?

The app allows users to report jellyfish sightings in real time or confirm that a beach is free of them; this information is displayed on a map accessible to all users.

"Every user also becomes a contributor to the project. Their reports allow other beachgoers to find out the condition of a beach before they go there and generate a database that we use to study how jellyfish populations are distributed and evolve," explains Eduardo Blasco.

To ensure the accuracy of the information and avoid false alarms that could harm the tourism sector, every sighting submitted undergoes a rigorous validation process: an artificial intelligence algorithm, trained on more than 10,000 images, taxonomically identifies the species and validates its location – a process ultimately supervised by a committee of experts in a very efficient manner.

In addition, MedusApp includes a first-aid guide prepared by healthcare professionals with recommendations for treating a sting.