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The Department of Geosciences at the University of Padua introduces Al-Earth, a new free mobile application that allows individuals to record observed geological events and phenomena in their area, such as earthquakes, landslides, and floods. Understanding geological processes and managing natural dangers have become increasingly important in recent years for the safety and sustainability of local communities. In this context, Al-Earth serves as a citizen science tool, allowing residents to actively participate in the collection of data for scientific research, environmental monitoring, and natural disaster prevention. The Al-Earth app enables users to report a variety of geological phenomena using geolocalized data, including landslides and mudslides, hydrogeological events (flooding and inundations), earthquakes and avalanches. There is also an "Other" category, which allows citizens to report geologically noteworthy events, such as the finding of fossils or minerals or the presence of notable rock outcrops, to researchers. Each report can be accompanied by images and/or videos, descriptions, and geographic coordinates, helping to build a georeferenced data library for research and territorial analysis. Particular care has been taken to preserve user privacy: reports submitted through Al-Earth are not made public and are only received by the Department of Geosciences at the University of Padua, which uses them for scientific research. Within the application, each user is restricted to viewing only their own reports, thereby promoting responsible and controlled use of the collected data.
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