OUR IDEA
Our mountain landscape is constantly changing: glaciers are melting, streams are carving out new paths, plants are colonising areas cleared from glaciers and landslides are shifting rocks and debris. While we can document large-scale changes over decades using existing scientific methods, it has become apparent that there are hardly any observations of localised or sudden events, which are often only visible for a short time. This means that we are missing an important building block to better understand the current changes, especially in connection with climate change.
Discover
Photos help us to document and explore the ongoing changes. Have you noticed something? Take a photo - whether it's a mountain stream, glacier or vegetation: everything is relevant!
Explore
Join us in exploring selected places and locations that are relevant to us and other researchers. With your photos you directly contribute to their documentation and hence, support us directly.
Experience
We make history visible: Using computer-aided visualisation of historical photos and data, we bring the past to life and make the drastic changes visible. Ready for an eye-opening experience?
Together, we want to close this gap: We all carry a small measuring device with us at all times, even when we are in the mountains - our smartphone. The built-in cameras not only allow us to capture special memories of hikes, but also to document changes that have occurred with the help of photos. We can then use these for further spatial analyses. In this way, we can all contribute directly to understanding the current effects of climate change in the high mountains without much effort.
To make the whole process as simple as possible, we developed myALPICS : An app that allows everyone to document their observations with photos and easily share them with us. So keep your eyes open on your next hike! But that's not all: we have processed hundreds of historical photos that show the partly dramatic changes in our Alps by comparing the past and present. With myALPICS, the locations of these photos can be found using an interactive map and the historical photos can be visualised and re-photographed. In this way, we can all experience the past up close with myALPICS. Ready for a little journey through time?
FEATURES
The basic functions of myALPICS also work without the Internet in selected regions.
The position and orientation of each captured image is stored. This allows us to use them for spatial analyses.
myALPICS is being developed as part of a research project. Therefore its use is completely free of charge for everyone.
Discover historical and current photos of numerous places, showing their past or current state.
Have you noticed something? A stream flows differently? Document it with myALPICS and take a photo.
Visualise historical images to discover the drastic changes in the Alps.
REGIONS
myALPICS can be used everywhere. However, we will initially concentrate on 2 selected regions: The Kaunertal in Tyrol and the Martelltal in South Tyrol. Why these valleys in particular? Both reach far up into the glacier zone, where the effects of climate change are particularly evident. What's more, they were already developed for mountaineering with mountain huts in the middle of the 19th century. As a result, there are a large number of historical photos from these valleys.
A little teaser? The first example is a historical image of the Gepatschferner in the Kaunertal from 1910. The second image was taken in the Martelltal from the Zufallhütte in the direction of the Cevedale around 1935. Both examples show impressively how much the Alps have changed over the last 100 years. And these are just two of the many examples that can be discovered in myALPICS.
USAGE
Speaking of photos: What do we actually do with them? We use your photos together with other data to better understand and thus explain the complex processes and interactions. This would not be possible without these photos. And by doing so, you are helping to protect our Alps in the long term!
PARTNER
CONTACT
Do you have any questions, suggestions or criticism? Would you like to use myALPICS in your region? Perhaps you have historical images of your own that could be of interest to us? Then contact us at any time at contact@myalpics.com We welcome any feedback and suggestions.