MEDJELLY MOBILE APP

MEDJELLY is a mobile application, developed and maintained by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) - (www.icm.csic.es) in the frameworks of the VECTORS and MED-JELLYRISK projects and in collaboration with the coastal municipalities of Catalonia and the Rescue Services.

This application was designed to provide citizens with a useful tool with wide access to a relevant and important topic: jellyfish proliferations in coastal areas.

The main objective is to provide clear and accurate real-time information about jellyfish: if there are jellyfish on the beach, which species are present, which species exist, what to do if you get stung by a jellyfish, and all the relevant information about this topic.

Through MEDJELLY, daily up-to-date information about the Catalan beaches will be reported; flag colour and reason, meteorological conditions (air and water temperature, wind, and UV index). The unique feature of this App is that it provides daily information about the presence and absence of jellyfish at the beaches, according to the information delivered by the Rescue Services and the coastal municipalities of Catalonia, and validated by experts of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC). With the App, daily information about the species of jellyfish present in each beach is given, if there are jellyfish, along with information about the risk they represent to the bathers (because not all jellyfish represent a risk to people), therefore, the presence of jellyfish in the beach is not always a problem. It is important to consider that jellyfish are animals that move with the water masses, and that may be moved with the currents and winds from one place to another in short periods of time, thus the information about their presence or absence in the beaches may change during the day. For this reason, MEDJELLY is updated every morning and during the day, if changes are provided, and after those changes have been corroborated and validated.

In the App, the main image shows a map of the Catalan coast with pins indicating the geographical position of the beaches. The pins have different colours according to the risk from jellyfish:

Green: Beach with no jellyfish

Yellow: Beach with jellyfish (for each beach whcih species present is indicated and if it is considered a risk)

Red: Only used to indicate the presence of the species Portuguese man-of-war

Grey: No information for that beach.

In addition, all the beaches are listed by municipalities. Each beach has its own card with information updated daily, with a short description of the beach and the services offered to the public. The App users are able to evaluate each beach using 1 to 5 stars and may leave comments according the their personal interests. The App also has a “community” section with a forum to share opinions, questions and debates about the jellyfish topic, allowing a direct communication between beach users (citizens in general) and expert scientists of the ICM. It also includes a section with questions for the users, used to conduct studies and valuations about jellyfish proliferations and their socio-economic impact, to create better mitigation tools in the future.

Moreover, in the App a special section that includes an index of jellyfish species with details about their characteristics and the risk of each. Another section indicates the treatment and the entire preventive measures that may be used if jellyfish are present and the action protocols in case of jellyfish stings. A FAQ section is also included to answer to the most common jellyfish questions, like “What should I do if I am stung? The list of questions will be updated according to the interests of users shown in the forum.

Finally, the App allows users to report their own sightings, contributing to the information of each beach. There is also an option to take a picture and send it. This information will be validated and confirmed by the experts.

The App is available (free download) for:

Follow MEDJELLY news in the media (http://jellyrisk.eu/en/outreach-and-education/medjellyrisk-in-the-media/).