Sensing data is important to a variety of data collection and
monitoring applications. This paper presents the ODK Sensors
framework designed to simplify the process of integrating sensors
into mobile data collection tasks for both programmers and data
collectors. Current mobile platforms (e.g., smartphones, tablets)
can connect to a variety of external sensors over wired (USB) and
wireless (Bluetooth) channels. However, the proper
implementation can be burdensome, especially when a single
application needs to support a variety of sensors with different
communication channels and data formats. Our goal is to provide
a high level framework that allows for customization and
flexibility of applications that interface with external sensors, and
thus support a variety of information services that rely on sensordata.
We use four application examples to highlight the range of
usage models and the ease with which the applications can be
developed.