Nature Near Me is a new project developed by Tom August at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology with the aim to make data held on the NBN Gateway available via Twitter. Whether you want to know what wildlife is in your area, get an interactive map for a species of interest, or get sat nav directions to nearby sightings, the Nature Near Me Twitter account can do it.
The project works by using an automated Twitter account, @NatureNearMe. When aTweet is sent to this account it uses simple rules to work out what the user wants and then uses the NBN Web Services to supply the answer.
It is hoped that this service will act to engage people using Twitter (80% of whom do so on their phone, and most are 18-29), and highlight to developers the power of the NBN Web Services.
Find out more here
Check out the demonstration on YouTube below.