Weather

Supported on Android & iOS.

This data source collects comprehensive weather data at the participant’s current location.

Use Cases

Weather data is valuable for various research applications:

  • Environmental health studies: Analyzing the impact of weather conditions on physical health
  • Physical activity research: Understanding how weather affects outdoor exercise and movement patterns
  • Mood and behavior studies: Investigating the relationship between weather and mental health

Data Structure

Besides the common data fields, each record contains:

  • City: Name of the city where the data is collected. Internally stored as city.
  • Country: Country of the location. Internally stored as country.
  • Temperature: Current air temperature, in degrees Celsius (°C). Internally stored as temperature.
  • Feels Like: This accounts for the human perception of weather, in degrees Celsius (°C). Internally stored as feels_like.
  • Max Temperature: Maximum temperature within a large city or a megalopolis, in degrees Celsius (°C). Internally stored as max_temperature.
  • Min Temperature: Minimum temperature within a large city or a megalopolis, in degrees Celsius (°C). Internally stored as min_temperature.
  • Humidity: Relative humidity, in percent (%). Internally stored as humidity.
  • Pressure: Atmospheric pressure on the sea level, in hectopascals (hPa). Internally stored as pressure.
  • Wind Speed: Wind speed, in meters per second (m/s). Internally stored as wind_speed.
  • Wind Degree: Wind direction, in degrees (0-360°). Internally stored as wind_degree.
  • Clouds: Cloudiness, in percentage (%). Internally stored as clouds.
  • Visibility: Visibility distance, in kilometers (km). Internally stored as visibility.
  • Weather Group: Group of weather parameters (e.g., “Rain”, “Snow”, “Clouds”). Internally stored as weather_group.
  • Weather Description: Weather condition within the group (e.g., “light rain”, “heavy snow”, “few clouds”). Internally stored as weather_description.
  • Rain 1h: Rain volume for the last 1 hour, in millimeters (mm). Internally stored as rain_1h.
  • Rain 3h: Rain volume for the last 3 hours, in millimeters (mm). Internally stored as rain_3h.
  • Snow 1h: Snow volume for the last 1 hour, in millimeters (mm). Internally stored as snow_1h.
  • Snow 3h: Snow volume for the last 3 hours, in millimeters (mm). Internally stored as snow_3h.

Data Collection Behavior

Avicenna Weather collects data every hour based on the participant’s location at that time. The participant’s device gathers GPS data and uploads it to Avicenna’s servers. Once the GPS data is received, Avicenna uses it to fetch weather information from external APIs.

[!note]
Participants must be online to upload GPS data.

Adding Weather As a Data Source

See Adding Data Sources.

Note that when the Weather data source is added to a study, the GPS data source is automatically included as well. This is because GPS data is required to determine the participant’s location and collect accurate weather information.

Monitoring and Exporting Weather Data

Weather data can be monitored and exported via the Data Export page or Kibana.

Weather Data Source in Participant Device

To grant GPS permission:

  1. Open the onboarding alert in the Avicenna app.
  2. Follow the step-by-step instructions provided here.

[!note]
Without granting GPS access, weather data cannot be collected, even if the Weather data source is active in the study.