ClimApp - integrating personal factors with weather forecasts for individualised warning and guidance on thermal stress

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Boris René Motrona Kingma
  • Henriette Steenhoff
  • Jørn Toftum
  • Hein A M Daanen
  • Mireille A Folkerts
  • N Gerrett
  • C Gao
  • K Kuklane
  • Jennifer Petersson
  • Antarip Halder
  • Moniek Zuurbier
  • Stephen W Garland
  • Nybo, Lars

This paper describes the functional development of the ClimApp tool (available for free on iOS and Android devices), which combines current and 24 h weather forecasting with individual information to offer personalised guidance related to thermal exposure. Heat and cold stress assessments are based on ISO standards and thermal models where environmental settings and personal factors are integrated into the ClimApp index ranging from −4 (extremely cold) to +4 (extremely hot), while a range of −1 and +1 signifies low thermal stress. Advice for individuals or for groups is available, and the user can customise the model input according to their personal situation, including activity level, clothing, body characteristics, heat acclimatisation, indoor or outdoor situation, and geographical location. ClimApp output consists of a weather summary, a brief assessment of the thermal situation, and a thermal stress warning. Advice is provided via infographics and text depending on the user profile. ClimApp is available in 10 languages: English, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Hellenic (Greek), Italian, German, Spanish and French. The tool also includes a research functionality providing a platform for worker and citizen science projects to collect individual data on physical thermal strain and the experienced thermal strain. The application may therefore improve the translation of heat and cold risk assessments and guidance for subpopulations. ClimApp provides the framework for personalising and downscaling weather reports, alerts and advice at the personal level, based on GPS location and adjustable input of individual factors.

Original languageEnglish
Article number11317
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume18
Issue number21
Number of pages26
ISSN1661-7827
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

    Research areas

  • Cold assessment, Heat assessment, Human thermal models, Mobile application

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