Participatory sensing is the concept of communities (or other groups of people) contributing sensory information to form a body of knowledge.
[1] A growth in mobile devices, for example smartphones, tablet computers or activity trackers, which have multiple sensors, has made participatory sensing viable in the large-scale.
Participatory sensing can be used to retrieve information about the environment, weather, noise pollution,[2] urban mobility,[3] congestion as well as any other sensory information that collectively forms knowledge.
Such open communication systems could pose challenges to the veracity of transmitted information.
[5] Additional challenges include, but are not limited to, effective incentives for participation,[6] security,[7] reputation[8] and privacy.