CHARLOTTE — Often times, people can not easily detect radiation. Yet a Charlotte man hopes by tackling the smart phone application frontier, he can get the vital data out to the public easily.
Charlotte resident Tripper Wood said after the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, he became concerned about radiation.
“Researched on my iPad for apps regarding radiation,” said Wood. “It was becoming a real big thing in the news, and I couldn’t find an app dealing with radiation.”
Wood said in the months following the disaster apps started popping up, but they were complicated for the average person.
“So I came up with the idea of color coded maps, so it would be very easy to interpret the radiations of the colors,” said Wood.
The app mainly relies on user reporting from around the world. Wood says he realized government data was not always updated. Currently, 310 people have downloaded the app.
“I think it gives people a little peace of mind that they don’t have to worry about where the radiation is,” said Wood. “And it’s just something they can have on person where they can check it.”
Right now, the application is only available on Apple products, but Wood is developing a Droid version. He said people from all over the world have downloaded his radiation heat map application.
