Preparing the first activity

  • survey of participating students.pdf

    In October 2018, we formed the core group of students responsible for the project, to take part in the student exchanges and carry out the tasks assigned by the coordinating school in the lead-up to each student exchange.

    In November 2018, we participated in the selection process of the project logo and published it on the school website

    From December 2018 to March 2019, we measured environmental noise levels on 60 locations inside the city of Lappeenranta for extended periods of time using free smartphone apps for both measurements and geotagged measurement data collection. The apps were manually calibrated in each phone to overcome errors caused by the varied hardware

    Using GPX files (a GPS data format for software applications), we then transferred the collected data to QGIS, a geographic information system application that allows its users to analyze and edit geospatial information, including graphical maps. On QGIS, the noise data we collected was converted into a vector layer imposed upon the city map of Lappeenranta.

     

    QGIS is a free, open-source application and GPX files are also available without license fees. The students used their own phones and devices for the measurements.

     

    In January 2019, we had two visits from the Lappeenranta town planning department, including the town architect

    From March 2019 to April 2019, we also studied air quality in terms of suspended particulate matter averages. For practical reasons, we did not conduct any measurements of our own but used raw data provided by the city authorities

    In addition, we examined the quality of life experienced in Lappeenranta with a battery of questions shared with Portugal, Spain and Czechia. From February 2019 to April 2019, we interviewed 100 Lappeenranta residents representing proportionally all the age groups from 0 to 90 in the local population pyramid. A selection of the interviews was also recorded on video with English subtitles

    Fiinally, in late April 2019, we prepared PowerPoint presentations of Lappeenranta with special emphasis on the local government, budget and financial priorities for Activity C1