Discover the power of tracking your travel modes with NREL OpenPATH (National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Open Platform for Agile Trip Heuristics), accessible at https://nrel.gov/openpath. This innovative app allows you to monitor your travel habits—whether you're driving a car, taking a bus, cycling, or walking—and calculates the energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with each mode of transportation.
NREL OpenPATH is more than just a personal tool; it's a community empowerment platform. By using the app, communities gain insights into their travel patterns and choices, enabling them to experiment with more sustainable options and evaluate the outcomes. These insights can drive effective transportation policy and planning, paving the way for more sustainable and accessible urban environments.
On an individual level, NREL OpenPATH helps users understand the environmental impact of their travel decisions. On a broader scale, the app aggregates community-level data on mode shares, trip frequencies, and carbon footprints, which is made available through a public dashboard. This transparency fosters informed decision-making and community engagement.
The backbone of NREL OpenPATH is its continuous data collection and analysis, facilitated by a smartphone app and supported by a server with automated data processing. Its open-source nature ensures transparent data handling, and it can be tailored to suit specific programs or studies.
Upon initial installation, the app does not collect or transmit any data. To activate its features, you must join a study or program by clicking a link or scanning a QR code, after which you will be prompted to consent to data collection and storage. If you're not part of a specific community or program but want to track your personal carbon footprint, you can participate in the NREL-run open-access study. Your data could then contribute to the control group for experiments conducted by our partners.
At its core, NREL OpenPATH functions as an automatically sensed travel diary, built from background location and accelerometer data. You have the option to add semantic labels to your diary entries as required by program administrators or researchers.
It's important to note that continuous use of GPS in the background can significantly reduce battery life. To mitigate this, the app automatically deactivates GPS when you're stationary, minimizing battery consumption. With this feature, the app typically results in about a 5% battery drain for up to 3 hours of travel per day.
What's New in the Latest Version 1.9.1
Last updated on Oct 15, 2024
- Make push notifications optional since there are some programs that don't need them
1.9.1
32.8 MB
Android 7.0+
gov.nrel.cims.openpath
