Called Care View, the app was developed by the Urban Sustainable Development Lab with the support of The European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Space Agency. It is due to be rolled out to further cities in the UK and Europe this year, ESA announced on its website.
Care View aims to address this problem with the help of workers in the community. Workers can tap the app when they notice warning signs that someone is suffering from social isolation, including rubbish building up in the driveway or curtains that are constantly shut.
Using satellite technology, the tap generates a heat spot on a virtual map of the city. Multiple taps in the same area can be visualized using the app’s heat map, flagging up where people may need assistance.
The heat map – generated using a global system of navigation satellites – can help community volunteers focus on their efforts.
Care View began as a pioneering outreach project in the UK city Leeds in 2016 when the City Council engaged with the most deprived part of the population – “individuals ‘swallowed up’ in the vastness of the city and lost to the multiple challenges of outreach”.
Graham Turnock, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: “Many of us have learned this year that pandemics can be lonely times, and that we all benefit from some amount of companionship. This application channels the power of space to help locate and give a helping hand to people in need of help.”
Abhay Adhikari, the founder of the Urban Sustainable Development Lab, said: “During the pandemic, the opportunity to work with teams from West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester has been a humbling experience. Everything we’ve learned so far will help us ensure that Care View continues to play a role in helping cities support socially isolated communities in the coming months and post-COVID recovery.”
