Users' Guide Mobile Avalanche Safety Tool™ for Android - ULLR Labs

Users’ Guide Mobile Avalanche Safety Tool™ for Android Hello, and thank you for your interest in Ullr Labs’ Mobile Avalanche Safety Tool (MAST™). This document walks you through the basic screens and workflow to record and transmit your observations of avalanches or weather/snowpack conditions. We are always looking for ways to make MAST better. Please visit our Contact Us page for ways to provide your thoughts. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Unlike the closely controlled iOS platform, Android is open-source, available in many versions (flavors) and can be installed on a wide variety of devices. This is both a blessing and a curse. On the plus side, the variety of Android devices introduces competition and innovation. On the negative side, many devices and versions of Android do not support all features of MAST. Some examples: 

Some devices (HTC One for example) do not include a digital compass.

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Various devices have varying abilities to acquire GPS signals. Some devices may determine location in seconds, while some may time out before gaining lat/lon/elevation

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There are also varying capabilities to dictate voice notes or record/play back videos. For example, some devices do not support inline streaming, and require that videos from other users be downloaded to the device before playback

As a result, MAST may experience inconsistent behavior across Android devices. If reporting problems with MAST, please research your device’s functionality and limitations and provide us the particulars. Introduction MAST is essentially an electronic field avalanche notebook, with some major enhancements. Forecasts and Danger Roses can be downloaded and stored on the device. Observation data can be easily recorded and transmitted to a regional avalanche center – no need to document the data on paper then transcribe the data to an electronic format. Warnings are generated when observations are in “danger zones”. Educational resources are included, and regularly updated. The application is broken into six main sections: 1. Home, where you select a “Home Avalanche Center” and download/view the current forecast and Danger Rose. 2. Avalanche, where you record avalanche incidents: a. Location (lat/long/elevation),angle and aspect, b. cause, c. size, and d. people affected.

3. Observations provide the meat of the application. Here you record: a. weather, b. terrain, c. snowpack and d. stability conditions at each point along your route. 4. Warnings 5. Transmitting Data 6. Tools, which contain educational resources as well as definitions of the terms and measures used in the application. The remainder of this document will walk you through each of the steps one would normally take when using the application.

Mobile Avalanche Safety Tools™ for Android – Detailed Instructions

Home Section When you download the application and open for the first time, MAST will ask you to provide:  A user name and email address, and  Your “Home” Avalanche Center, that provides the forecast and Danger Rose for the region where you recreate most. You can change your Home Center whenever you want, and can view forecasts from other participating Avalanche Centers as desired.

The user name and email address is requested so a regional avalanche center can contact you if they have questions about your observations. If you check the “Send Name” box, your name and email address will be transmitted. If not checked, your observation will be sent anonymously. We will NOT sell or use this information for marketing purposes.

Touching “Enter Forecast Region” will take you to a list of participating regional avalanche centers. From there, you can select from one of the center’s forecast regions. In this case, you are seeing the regions where the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center provides forecasts. Note – it sometimes takes several seconds for the app to list the avalanche centers. Don’t get impatient!

You can now view the avalanche forecast for the selected region, or View Recent Observations submitted by other users in that region. You can always change your user name, email or home avalanche center by touching the appropriate fields and re-entering the data.

Selecting “View Recent Observations” returns a list of all observations transmitted by MAST users for the selected regional avalanche center. Selecting an observation will return the information transmitted. Selecting “Recent Observations Map” will return a map of the avalanche center’s region, with pins showing observations for the two weeks prior. Touching a pin will provide the date and time of that observation. Touching “View” will return the information recorded, in the format shown in the Observations Section and Avalanche Section below.

Observations Section Note – Before recording observations, make sure you set measurement units for length (inches/feet or cm/meters), temperature (Fahrenheit or Celsius) and shear fracture characteristics (SWAG or OGRS). This is applied in the Units area in the Tools Section. MAST makes it easy to record observations of snowpack, weather, terrain or stability at waypoints along your route. Just touch the Observations button at the top of the screen, and a list of saved observations will appear. Touch the “New” button to begin a new observation for a new waypoint, or touch one of the existing items to record additional information about that point. Date, time, GPS coordinates and elevation automatically populate. You can enter a descriptive location by touching the “Location” row and typing. If supported by your device and version of Android, you can also use the audio dictation features to populate any text field.

Next, touch “Take Photo” to record a photo of the slope of interest, as well as the Slope Angle and Aspect. Point the crosshair reticule up or down the slope to record angle. Aspect will correct depending on whether you are pointing uphill vs. downhill. When you “accept” the angle and aspect, MAST returns you to the Current Observations screen. Notes 1. The photo view only works in landscape mode 2. If the smartphone does not have a digital compass, neither aspect nor slope angle automatically populate. 3. When sighting the slope angle, remember to correct for the height of the device off the ground.

If you don’t want to take a photo, you can manually record date/time, GPS coordinates, elevation, slope angle and aspect. Just touch each of the rows and enter the information. Aspect and elevation are recorded from the “Slope” row.

Recording weather conditions is also easy. Just point the top of the device directly into the wind to record direction. Then touch “OFF” to lock in the direction. Use the slider buttons to record wind speed, temperature and cloud cover. Finally, touch the relevant buttons for type and intensity of any precipitation. When satisfied with the inputs, touch your phone’s back button to return to the main Observation Screen. Notes 1. MAST does not automatically record temperature – you need to bring your own thermometer. 2. You cannot set wind direction if your smartphone lacks a digital compass. You can always record this input, or any other, in the notes.

Likewise, recording terrain conditions is a simple process. Touch the appropriate level of Slope Complexity as defined by Parks Canada. The Tools section of this app, the Resources section of our website, and Table 3.3 of Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, 2nd Edition all provide the definitions of each rating level. Next, note the existence of anchors and their density, as well as whether terrain traps exist by touching the appropriate lines.

Next, touch the “Signs of Instability” row on the main Observations screen to record any “red flags”. Then touch any of the listed items observed in that location, and touch your phone’s back button to return to the main Observation Screen.

Recording Video and Notes MAST lets users record and share video clips of conditions and performance of stability tests. To record the conditions at the observation point, touch the “Capture Video” button on the Main Observation screen. When the video screen appears, tap the screen to begin recording, then tap again to stop. Touching “Enter Notes” allows users to record typed or dictated notes of conditions. Remember that some devices and software versions do not support voicetext capability.

Warnings As you populate the screens, the application returns warnings when observations deserve extra consideration per established snow science. Touching the Warnings button will display the five warnings returned from what’s been recorded so far:  Evidence exists of shooting cracks and signs of collapsing snowpack;  Slope conditions are “Challenging”;  The aspect does gets less sunlight, which can put it at greater risk for weak layers; and  A note that a “moderate” spacing of trees is not necessarily a safe level of anchoring.

Recording Snowpit Profiles MAST lets you record multiple snowpit profiles at each observation point. From the New Observation Screen (see screen above), touch “Record Pit Profile Data”. The app then asks you whether you want to measure pit layers from the ground-up, or from the surfacedown. MAST then takes you to the main Snowpit Profile screen, where you can record crystal type, hardness and size for each layer, as well as the snow temperature at various depths.

When selecting “Edit Snowpit Profile” MAST displays a screen where you record the cumulative depth of each layer, crystal type and size, and the hardness of that layer. Touch each row and a drop-down box appears. Select the appropriate amount/type for each. Then press “Save and New…” to record each new layer. Touch “Save and Close” when all layers have been recorded. Note that the measurement of “Depth” depends on whether you selected top-down or bottom-up. For top-down pit measurements, the surface is zero, and the depth is measured at the bottom of each layer. When measuring pits from the bottom-up, the ground is zero, and the depth is measured at the top of each layer.

If you touch the “Info” button above the View Profile button in the lower right corner, a synopsis of the crystal properties displays. Pressing “Tap for Photo” will display photos of the selected crystal type. These photos are provided under license from the International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground, by the International Association of Cryogenic Sciences. All rights reserved.

After touching “Save and Close”, a list of the layers will appear. To edit the data for any layer, or to delete the layer entirely, touch the row of interest. Then either modify the information, or touch the delete button in the lower left corner of the screen.

When selecting “Edit Temperature Profile” for the first time on that profile, the application takes you to index screen. Touch “Add New Temp Layer” to start the process. MAST then displays a screen to record depth and temperature. The application will first display Depth 0, which is the snow surface. Touch the Temp row, then select the appropriate value from the dropdown box. Note that MAST always measures temperature from the top-down, i.e. the surface is at depth = zero.

Pressing “Save and New…” brings up the same screen again, with the depth automatically incremented by 10cm or 4” (depending on units selected in the Tools Section). Continue recording temperatures until at the bottom of the pit, then press “Save and Close”. Temperatures and Depth of each layer can be edited or deleted in the same manner as with the crystal type, size and hardness data.

Once you begin populating the profile data, a “View Snowpit Profile” button will appear. Touching that button will display the profile in graphical form. The cumulative depth of each layer is displayed at the right. The crystal type symbol and crystal size is displayed within each layer’s box. The temperature profile is displayed by the red line.

Returning to the Current Observation screen, you will notice that 16 new warnings have been generated from the snowpit data. In this case, additional warnings were generated because:  A weak layer of depth hoar exists between 18-21”.  In addition, the hardness of the depth hoar layer varies by two values, and the crystal size varies by more than 1mm, compared to surrounding layers.  Even worse, the weak layer is less than 10cm (4”) thick and the temperature gradient across that layer varies by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit over 4” (or 1 degree C per 10cm).  The temperature gradient across much of the snowpack varies by more than 2 degrees F per 4” of depth (or 1 degree C per 10cm) – another sign of poor bonding between layers.  The temperature of the first 16” of the snowpack is below 22 degrees Fahrenheit (or -5 degrees C). Snow tends to bond slowly when snow temperatures are this low.

(In)Stability Tests MAST also lets you record multiple (in)stability tests at each Observation point, both pit-based (Rutschblock, Compression, Extended Column, Prop Saw, etc.) and “active” tests (Cornice Drop, Slope Cut, Handshear, etc.). Navigation to the various tests occur in two ways: First, from the Main Observation screen, touch “Record Stability Test” then “New Stability Test”, then “Test Type” to see the list of tests.

Second, you can also access the pit-based stability tests from the Snowpit Profile screen. Pressing “Record Pitbased Stability Test” will take you to a menu of tests performed in a snowpit.

Touching the button for a test (Extended Column Test in this example) will bring up a screen with a description of the test and a photo or diagram. Touching the “Enter Results” button will take you to the input screen where you can record the depth, load and shear qualities of failures. Just touch the depth and load rows to get dropdown boxes from which you can select the appropriate values. Then enter shear quality and type, and touch Save. You can also record video of each test. Just press “Capture Video” on the screen that explains the test. When the record video screen appears (only landscape mode is supported) tap the screen to begin recording, then tap again to stop. Note – MAST always records failure depth from the surface.

Each test has its own load measurement scale using established standards. 

Compression, Burp, Stuffblock, Prop Saw and Extended Column tests tend to be more quantitative in the amount of force required to initiate a failure.

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The Rutschblock and Shovel Shear tests rely on more subjective measures of force.

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The more active tests such as Slope Cut, Handshear, or Cornice Drop are the easiest to conduct, but use the most subjective measures.

Note – the more quantitative pit tests are not necessarily better than the active tests. The observers’ abilities to conduct these tests are the most important variable. Test often, using different means to assess the risk.

MAST will then take you to a screen that shows the tests you have recorded at this Observation point. Here you can:  Touch one of the tests listed to check or edit its contents,  Touch “Edit” to delete the test,  Touch “New Stability Test” to select and record the results of another test, or  Touch your phone’s Back Button to return to the Main Observation screen.

The results of pit-based stability tests can be viewed on the profile, by navigating to the Snowpit Profile screen, and touching “View Snowpit Profile”.

Returning to the Current Observation Screen, you will notice that two more warnings have been generated. In this case, warnings were generated because:  A fracture occurred across the full column on the Extended Column Test, with a Q1 shear.  The Rutschblock failed when the observer stepped on the test column wearing skis, and failed with a Q1 shear value.

You can save what you’ve recorded at any step along the way by pressing the “Save” button on the Main Observation screen. The app will then take you to a page with all saved observations.

Avalanche Observations The Regional Avalanche Centers like to get reports of avalanches from the field, especially if no one was caught, injured or killed. So, MAST allows you to record avalanche events that you witness. Just touch the “Avalanche” button at the top of the screen, and then touch the “New” button at the bottom to start a new observation. From there, you can take a photo of the slide, which will also record date/time, location (lat/long/elevation), slope angle and aspect. Note: We recommend you stay well away from the crown or staunchwalls of an avalanche unless you are rescuing people. Up-close analysis of an avalanche is the work of trained professionals. The avalanche forecasters are not THAT interested in knowing the precise location or slope angle of the slide area.

You can then use the touch screen, sliders and dropdown boxes to record the cause, type and size of the slide, as well as the number of people involved. to When complete, touch your phone’s Back button to return to the Main Avalanche screen and press “Done” save the observation.

Sharing your Observations Once recorded, observations can be transmitted to your Home Avalanche Center where they will be stored and available for use by other subscribers and Regional Avalanche Center personnel. They will also go to a central database for viewing by others when they select “View Recent Observations” or “View Observations Map” on the Home screen. Just touch “Share” on the Main Observations or Main Avalanche screens. Notes 1. A cell signal or wifi connection will be necessary to transmit. 2. Do Not transmit fake observations. Regional Avalanche Forecasters have enough to do besides sifting through invalid data.

You can also export pit profiles and entire observations to an email address, Facebook, Twitter, Instant Message, Picassa or similar social media location. From the main Observation screen, scroll to the bottom and press “Export Observation”. When the observation appears press the export button on the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Select the mode of sharing and enter the appropriate addresses. You can also Save as Draft, which will save the exported data to your phone.

Educational Tools and Resources The Tools section contains a variety of resources, such as: 

Set units in cm/meters/Celsius, or in inches/feet/Fahrenheit. In addition, users can set stability test fracture characteristics using either the SWAG scale (Q1, Q2, Q3) or the OGRS scale (SP, SC, RP, PC, BRK);

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A message about the reliance you should or should not put on the Warnings generated by MAST;

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Snow crystal descriptions and photos per Appendix A of the IACS International Classification for Seasonal Snow Crystals on the Ground;

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Definitions of the measurement system used when recording observations;

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Links to videos for topics such as conducting Stability tests, probe/shoveling techniques, etc.; and

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List/Contact info for Avalanche Centers

Measurement Units can be displayed on a metric scale or the scale used in the United States. Be careful about mixing measurement scales as it may cause errors when interpreting snowpit temperature gradients.

The app also includes links to several videos related to skills such as digging snowpits, recording stability tests, beacon searching, probing and shoveling techniques. You will need a wifi or cellular signal to access.