NREL OpenPATH

Discover the power of sustainable travel with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Open Platform for Agile Trip Heuristics (NREL OpenPATH), available at https://nrel.gov/openpath. This innovative app allows you to meticulously track your travel modes, whether you're driving a car, hopping on a bus, cycling, or simply walking. Beyond just tracking, NREL OpenPATH calculates the energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with your journeys, empowering you with the knowledge to make eco-friendly choices.

NREL OpenPATH is more than just a personal tool; it's a catalyst for community engagement and sustainable urban planning. By using the app, communities gain insights into their collective travel behaviors, enabling them to experiment with and implement greener travel options. The data collected can significantly influence transportation policies and help shape more sustainable and accessible cities.

For individual users, NREL OpenPATH offers a personalized glimpse into the environmental impact of their travel choices. Additionally, the app aggregates community-level data, including mode shares, trip frequencies, and carbon footprints, which are made publicly accessible through an informative dashboard.

The app's functionality relies on continuous data collection and sophisticated analysis, facilitated through a smartphone app supported by a robust server and automated data processing system. Its open-source framework ensures transparency in data handling while allowing customization for specific research or programs.

Upon first installation, NREL OpenPATH does not collect or transmit any data. To participate, you must join a study or program by clicking a provided link or scanning a QR code, followed by consenting to data collection and storage. For those not affiliated with a partner community but interested in tracking their personal carbon footprint, there's an option to join the NREL-run open-access study, where your data could serve as a control for partner experiments.

At its core, NREL OpenPATH functions as an automatically generated travel diary, pieced together from background-sensed location and accelerometer data. Users have the ability to add semantic labels as requested by program administrators or researchers, enhancing the data's value.

Be mindful of battery life; continuous GPS usage in the background can significantly drain your device. To mitigate this, the app smartly deactivates GPS when you're stationary, reducing battery consumption to approximately 5% for up to 3 hours of daily travel.

What's New in the Latest Version 1.9.1

Last updated on Oct 15, 2024

- Make push notifications optional since there are some programs that don't need them

NREL OpenPATH Screenshots