ABSTRACT
The SARS-CoV-2 virus triggered a never-before-seen scenario worldwide. Ecuador declared a state of emergency to contain coronavirus transmission by applying social isolation policies and mobility limitations. During this period, noise pollution decreased in Guayaquil city. This study proposes the use of smartphones to collect noise data and generate soundscape maps of Guayaquil during different time slots. The results revealed traffic as the predominant type of noise, followed by vehicles, buses, and people´s voices. This article demonstrates the feasibility of crowdsourcing for the collection of environmental variables. © 2022 National Institute for Space Research, INPE. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The SARS-CoV-2 virus triggered a never-before-seen scenario worldwide. Ecuador declared a state of emergency to contain coronavirus transmission by applying social isolation policies and mobility limitations. During this period, noise pollution decreased in Guayaquil city. This study proposes the use of smartphones to collect noise data and generate soundscape maps of Guayaquil during different time slots. The results revealed traffic as the predominant type of noise, followed by vehicles, buses, and people´s voices. This article demonstrates the feasibility of crowdsourcing for the collection of environmental variables. © 2022 National Institute for Space Research, INPE. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Noise pollution is becoming a critical health risk for city life. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced many cities to implement several mobility restrictions. These restrictions changed human activity patterns and decreased the noise levels and noise pollution that often affect urban settings. As the number of infections decreased, so did the outdoor activities, influencing the population's perception of noise. This paper aims to evaluate the changes in noise levels associated with mobility restrictions between 2020 and 2021 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. This study used crowdsourcing with the help of smartphones and mobile applications to collect geo-referenced environmental noise data. The data was used to generate noise maps in different time frames. Finally, noise level maps were created using GIS-based tools to identify the urban areas that experienced the highest noise level variation during the study period. The results show that the most significant noise increase occurred at night. Furthermore, when analyzing noise level changes in different urban areas, the western area of Guayaquil was the one that experienced the most significant noise level variation. Findings inform the perception of noise pollution and could potentially serve as a reference for decision-makers during the proposal of public policies that ensure a better quality of life for its citizens. © 2023 The Authors
ABSTRACT
Community service projects and activities allow a comprehensive academic training of university students by exposing them to real learning environments. The Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) promotes the development of it's students professional skills through active learning in the form of pre-professional practices. Student training practices were modified as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through the establishment of social distancing as a main bio safety policy. This article shines a light on the experience of the students who carried out community service practices during the social isolation produced by the pandemic. Seventy students participated in the project "Noise pollution in the city of Guayaquil during isolation and reactivation of activities", students used mobile devices to measure the noise level of the city of Guayaquil from their homes. The results of this study indicate a high efficacy of the use of virtual technologies future community service projects. For this reason, it is suggested to consider this type of practice in future community service projects in virtual mode. © 2022 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
At the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), a classroom course in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) takes place in a laboratory equipped with high-end computers and free of distractions. These conditions place the student in a comfortable environment to exploit their learning potential adequately. On the other hand, the results of this course in virtual modality are subject to the possession and quality of the resources of each teacher and student such as: internet connection, computer performance, and family environment. As a consequence, new ways for the evaluation of the GIS virtual course are proposed to offer (as much as possible) equity among all students. A geo-referenced survey of 40 students of the GIS course was conducted to learn about the possession and quality of technological resources, and ongoing training activities were carried out during the course. In addition, the performance of the students' computers was measured using the Novabench software. Finally, the results show no relationship between final grades and computer performance. It is possible that this is the result of the implementation of multiple evaluations, feedback, and self-regulation instruments by the teacher. © 2021 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the city of Guayaquil. The complex dynamics associated with the geography of SARS-CoV-2 made it difficult to monitore the spread of COVID-19 in Ecuador. Data collection and reporting were, in most cases, some of the main obstacles to understanding the (real-time) situation of COVID-19 outbreak. This study presents a crowdsourcing initiative to complement data collection efforts that inform the progress of contagion in Ecuador. We used a digital survey to collect information regarding positive cases and symptoms associated with COVID-19. We further developed an online dashboard that shows descriptive statistics based on collected data. In total, there were 1450 responses. Additional information such as geographical data led to the identification and visualization of the areas with the highest prevalence of symptoms associated with COVID-19 in some of the main urban areas of Guayaquil city. © 2021 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.