The Eclipse Soundscapes Mobile Application was a NASA-funded Science Activation project that helped people experience and learn about solar eclipses in multiple ways. Designed using Universal Design for Learning principles, it supported broad participation by presenting eclipse information through images, text, audio, touch, and bilingual English-Spanish content.
During the 2017 total solar eclipse, the app used each user’s location together with NASA eclipse-timing data to determine what was happening at that location and play synchronized audio descriptions in real time. When an eclipse was not occurring, users could explore educational information through text, imagery, and audio. Its interactive rumble map translated eclipse imagery into haptic feedback, allowing users to feel features of an eclipse image through touch.
These options gave people different ways to access and engage with eclipse content while providing particularly important access for people who are blind or have low vision.
The original app, ES 1.0, was funded under NASA Award Number NNX16AL62A. The updated bilingual version, ES 2.0, was funded under NASA Award Number 80NSSC21K1172 and completed ahead of the 2020 solar eclipse to improve usability and expand access.
This mobile app project was separate and independent from the later Eclipse Soundscapes: Citizen Science Project (2021–2026).
The project has concluded and is no longer funded or maintained. Therefore, the app may or may not remain available through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Associated materials are preserved in the Eclipse Soundscapes Community on Zenodo, the project’s permanent public archive. https://zenodo.org/communities/eclipsesoundscapes/about
The EclipseSoundscapesMobileApp2017 GitHub repository provides a public archive of the app’s source code for reuse, learning, or adaptation.
Disclaimer: Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASA.
CocoaPods is a dependency manager for Cocoa projects. You can install it with the following command:
$ gem install cocoapodsOpen Terminal and clone the master branch by running:
git clone https://github.com/EclipseSoundscapes/EclipseSoundscapes.git
cd EclipseSoundscapesThen, run the following command:
$ pod installThen your ready to become a contributing Soundscaper!