A Smartphone-based Crowd-sourced Real-time Surveillance Platform (Apple Snail Inspector) for the Invasive Snail Pomacea canaliculata: Design and Development Study

Abstract

Abstract Background The large amphibious freshwater snail, Pomacea canaliculata (P. canaliculata) is an important invasive species in China, but there is currently no method available for its surveillance. The development and popularization of smartphones provides a new platform for research on surveillance technologies for the early detection and effective control of invasive species. Objective We describe the design and development of the “Apple Snail Inspector” (ASI), a mobile health (mHealth) surveillance system that features real-time reporting and mapping of P. canaliculata. Methods The ASI surveillance system was developed based on the infrastructure of the WeChat platform and Amap. The user can directly enter the game interface through the WeChat port on their mobile phone and the system automatically obtains their location. The user can then report the location of P. canaliculata. The administrator can audit the reported information, and all information can be exported to Microsoft Excel version 2016 for analysis. The map was generated by ArcGIS 10.2 and was used to characterize the spatial and temporal distribution of P. canaliculata in Jiangsu Province. Results The architecture of ASI consists of three parts: a mobile terminal, a server terminal, and a desktop terminal. We published more than 10 tweets on the official WeChat account of the system to announce it to the public and a total of 207 users in 2020 and 2021 correctly reported sightings of P. canaliculata. We identified 550 P. canaliculata breeding sites in 2020 and 2021, featuring ponds (81%), parks (17%), and farmland (2%). In addition, most of the locations contained snail eggs, and the reporting times mainly occurred between May and September. Conclusions The ASI is an effective surveillance system that can be used to identify the breeding locations of P. canaliculata, and provides the basis for its prevention and control. Its successful development and operation provides new potential avenues for surveillance of other public health issues.