LSE Researchers Debut 'Mappiness' Tool

A new iPhone app has been launched by two LSE researchers, to track how happy users are and understand how their feelings are affected by their immediate environment.

The new 'Mappiness' app has been designed by George MacKerron and Susan Mourato from the Department of Geography & Environment at The London School of Economics (LSE), as part of a wider project to map happiness in the UK.

Once loaded onto their iPhones, the tool asks users how happy they are feeling at random intervals throughout the day, and uses satellite positioning to log their location while they answer.

As well as tracking how issues such as pollution, noise and lack of green spaces affect wellbeing, the tool also maps how happy, relaxed or awake users feel using a sliding scale.

They are also invited to provide contextual information about where they are, who they are with and what they are doing; and if they are outdoors, they are able to submit a photograph of their surroundings.

Happiness levels are added to the project web site in real-time, alongside location maps derived from the response data. In return, participants receive a personalised chart which analyses their mood.

'By tracking across space as well as time, and by making novel use of a technology that millions of people already carry with them, we hope to find better answers to questions about the impacts of natural beauty, environmental problems - maybe even aspects of climate - on individual and national wellbeing,' MacKerron explained.

Web site: www.mappiness.org.uk .