Creating effective, information-laden field sketches is often a key skill for geoscientists to develop as they progress in their career journeys. From our first field trip to our hundredth visit to a research site, we are taught that visuals are vital for documenting important and often subtle place-based information, and for doing good science.
Hand-drawn sketches of outcrops, fault lines, and other scientifically interesting features can record and highlight important details—such as fracture patterns or obscure trace fossils—that may be difficult to spot in photographs. However, not all of us have the gift of artistic finesse. We may find ourselves squatting next to an outcrop for far too long, only to end up with a mess of squiggles somehow meant to resemble a tree (or maybe it’s some cross-bedding?).
Although Snapchat’s primary use is for messaging, its huge range of features has made it extremely popular as a photo and video editing tool.
Practice can make perfect for some, but backing up field notes with digital images oftentimes provides greater context. Taking photos on smartphones is already commonplace in field geoscience. However, corroborating these pictures with handwritten notes and later trying to decipher what you were photographing in the first place can be frustrating. What if you could annotate field photos on site and in real time?
For both of us, as early-career scientists and avid smartphone users, it seems almost second nature to use Snapchat for this purpose during fieldwork. Although the app’s primary use is for messaging, its huge range of features has made it extremely popular as a photo and video editing tool.
Here we briefly describe how we have used Snapchat on our smartphones to create and share informative, quick, and eye-catching annotated images of regional geology in the Rocky Mountains. (Nowadays, many social media apps—including Instagram, TikTok, and others—have editing capabilities similar to Snapchat’s and can also be useful for annotating images, organizing notes, and communicating science accessibly and engagingly.) We hope our experiences illuminate applications of an accessible, easy-to-use tool that other scientists may find similarly useful in their work.
Annotations, Mapping, and More
Writing and drawing directly on pictures is perhaps the most useful editing feature of Snapchat and similar apps for geoscientists. Snapchat’s pencil tool, which can be changed to various colors and weights, is a simple but powerful aid that helps organize and draw attention to important features in photos of landscapes, outcrops, and collected samples.
During a recent geobiology field course to visit the rocks of the Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, we documented a wide range of geologic information, from large landscapes to centimeter-scale rock fabrics. Figure 1 highlights examples of our annotations related to the Mahogany Zone, a layer of shale in the Green River Formation. The well-preserved and well-studied outcrops of the Green River Formation record roughly 6 million years (~54–48 million years ago) of sedimentation of Eocene lake basins along the modern-day Green River.
The regularly repeating thicknesses of the strata in this formation are striking and illustrate cycles in the rising and falling shorelines of these ancient lakes. Small shells of crustaceans called ostracods give clues about the depths and locations of these past shorelines (Figure 1). Ancient fossilized stromatolites, layered sedimentary structures produced by microbes, are also abundant in this landscape. Mysterious stromatolite rings can be seen surrounding what look like fossilized tree trunks from the Eocene.
Much of the geologic context can be lost in field photos, but annotating our “snapped” images preserves that extra information.
Much of the geologic context can be lost in field photos, but annotating our “snapped” images preserves that extra information.
Another useful feature of Snapchat is its capability to make personalized maps. When you save an image to the app’s personal Memories function, it preserves geolocation data and adds them to an internal Snap Map that only you can access. Referenced images let you know exactly where outcrops and formations of interest were located or where samples were collected.
In some of our research, for example, we have used the maps tool, alongside conventional GPS tools, to track sample transects. And during a recent road trip in Colorado from Vail to Leadville, we used Snap Map to document the locations where we stopped to view metamorphic features, glacial landscapes, and exposures of the Great Unconformity, a globally recognized geologic feature characterized by a gap in the rock record of up to 1.3 billion years (Figure 2). We also took many photos from inside a moving vehicle, which Snapchat easily saved and added to our road trip map.
In addition to annotations, we have added “stickers” and geotags displaying information like date, time, temperature, and elevation to Snapchat photos (Figure 3). Although we do not advocate substituting Snapchat’s (or other apps’) tools that provide location and environmental information for equipment designed to collect such data rigorously, these features offer an easy way to provide quick, first-pass contextual information about a site. The maps and annotated images also offer a rough draft of sample names and noteworthy attributes that can be carried around in your pocket. Further, these capabilities allow researchers to create interactive maps and other visual aids that can be included in scientific poster and oral presentations.
Snapping and Sharing
In addition to their benefits for easy, on-the-go note-taking and organization, using social media apps in field research can be an excellent way to communicate about one’s science with wider audiences. By adding clear, colorful text, labels, and annotations to photos and videos, geoscientists can easily create informative, engaging, and accessible content to share and promote public engagement and scientific literacy. Our audience could be hundreds of people diligently watching our Snap stories or just a cousin we haven’t caught up with since the last family reunion.
With the “story” feature in Snapchat, users can also create narratives—about a particular geological site or feature, for example—to further engage viewers and help to convey complex scientific concepts. (Similar features are available in other apps, such as Instagram stories and reels or TikTok videos.) These narratives create a way for peers to look at your science, while keeping a record for you.
During our geobiology field course, we spent 3 days at Great Salt Lake in Utah, in part to study its actively growing microbial mounds. These living stromatolites offer fascinating insights into processes that may have shaped how the features formed in the ancient past.
Participants in the course were tasked with completing a small group field project. Our group chose to analyze microscopic and macroscopic structures we observed in a single microbial mound (which we lovingly named Thomas). While documenting our fieldwork, we also posted live updates onto our Snap stories for our followers, who include both geologists and nongeologists. In these updates, we narrated the process of selecting a microbial mound, described in detail how it felt and smelled (of rotten eggs), and posted updates as Thomas was dissected. A handful of followers were invested in Thomas’s fate and reacted to our stories with comments or science-themed emojis (Figure 4).
Caveats and Concerns
Along with the benefits of using social media apps for science and science communication, there are drawbacks and potential pitfalls to consider. One drawback of some Snapchat tools, for example, such as the stickers that provide environmental information about a location (as in Figure 3), is that they require mobile data or Wi-Fi service to work properly. This coverage is often not available at remote field sites, which constrains some of the app’s features.
Even far from cell service, however, features like the pencil annotation offer good ways to keep a personal visual diary of observations. And when real-time sharing isn’t possible, stories and images can be saved and shared later or through a different platform.
Beyond issues related to service availability, there are, as with all social media, privacy and other concerns to consider when using Snapchat. Scientists sharing novel ideas or data before they are published must be aware of the potential concerns, including those over intellectual property claims, priority and credit issues for new discoveries, ethical considerations, and potential scientific misinterpretations. It is also important to note that social media platforms often share user data with third-party platforms (e.g., for targeted advertising).
Digital pitfalls abound in the Internet age, so we must be smart about what we choose to share online—once it is out there, there is no taking it down. Considering possible repercussions intentionally and getting necessary permissions (e.g., from individuals featured in photos) before posting are imperative for mitigating privacy concerns and protecting our (and others’) work.
Embracing New Tools
Snapchat popularized instant photo sharing, but other social media apps have followed in its footsteps, and easy photo and video editing and sharing are now the norm. Many of these apps can be useful for supporting scientific observation and advancement; in our experience, Snapchat has proven to be a versatile, easy-to-use, and effective platform.
There are challenges and concerns for scientists to overcome with social media usage, but the potential benefits of using Snapchat and other apps in field science should not be ignored.
There are challenges and concerns for scientists to overcome with social media usage, but the potential benefits of using Snapchat and other apps in field science should not be ignored. Researchers can leverage the app’s range of features—from image annotation to mapping, to others such as location-based filters, augmented reality, and real-time communication—to capture and share geospatial data with ease, collaborate with their peers, and engage wider audiences.
Further, the popularity of social media platforms among young people provides opportunities to promote scientific literacy and inspire the next generation of geoscientists. We feel it is important, as technology continues to evolve, for scientists to embrace new tools and platforms, both to advance their work and to meet audiences where they are to better communicate the fascination and relevance of scientific research.
Author Information
Sabrina Kainz (skainz@uw.edu; @brinaluvsrocks), University of Colorado Boulder; now at University of Washington, Seattle; and Andrea Halling, University of Colorado Boulder