The National Laboratory of the Rockies' Open Platform for Agile Trip Heuristics (NLR OpenPATH) enables people to track their travel modes—car, bus, bike, walking, etc.—and measure their associated energy use and carbon footprint.
The app empowers communities to understand their travel mode choices and patterns, experiment with options to make them more sustainable, and evaluate the results. Such results can inform effective transportation policy and planning and be used to build more sustainable and accessible cities.
NLR OpenPATH informs individual users about the impact of their choices, and also makes aggregated, community-level data on mode shares, trip frequencies, and carbon footprints available via a public dashboard.
NLR OpenPATH incorporates continuous data collection and analysis via a smart phone app backed by a server and automated data processing. Its open nature enables transparent data collection and analysis, while allowing it to be configured for individual programs or studies.
On first install, the app does not collect or transmit data. Once you click the link or scan the QR code to join a given study or program, you will be asked to consent to data collection and storage before the app begins functioning. If you are not part of a partner community or program but are simply interested in quantifying your individual carbon footprint, you can join the NLR-run open-access study. In the aggregate, your data might be used as the control for experiments run by our partners.
At its core, the app represents an automatically sensed travel diary, constructed from background sensed location and accelerometer data. You can annotate the diary with semantic labels as requested by a given program administrator or researcher.
Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Therefore, the app automatically turns off the GPS if you are not moving. This significantly reduces the battery drain caused by location tracking. The app results in ~ 5% battery drain for up to 3 hours of travel per day.
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- Add functionality to automatically update deployment config
- Persist UI state in background for 5 minutes
- Bug fixes
Version 2.1.3
The developer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Health & Fitness
Location
Usage Data
Sensitive Info
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Provider
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Size
77.6 MB
Category
Health & Fitness
Compatibility
Requires iOS 13.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 13.0 or later.
iPod touch Requires iOS 13.0 or later.
Apple Vision Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
Location
This app may use your location even when it is not open, which can decrease device battery life.
