Six people. Two pilot regions. One prototype. Here is what came out of the ENHANCE user interviews about a prototype tool being developed for environmental observation.
The Tool
The interviewees were asked to explore an interactive visual prototype of the ENHANCE monitoring platform. It brings together citizen science data, remote sensing data and in situ measurements, combining environmental observations, scientific knowledge and community contributions into a single place. The idea is simple enough: give people who are living and working on the coast a clearer picture of what is happening in their local marine environment.
The six participants came from very different backgrounds.
- From the Pagasitikos Gulf in Greece: the swimmer, an academic with strong ties to the local coastal environment and its communities.
- The teacher, an educator living near the coast, representing citizen and community users.
- The engineer, a researcher from the Volos region with direct experience of the area’s environmental challenges.
- From the Barcelona area: the aquaculture expert, a researcher working directly with aquaculture producers in the Ebro Delta.
- The scientist, an academic specialising in chemical exposure and its environmental health impacts.
- The diver, an active citizen scientist who regularly monitors the Catalan coast.
Tech comfort levels ranged from 6 to 8 out of 10. Some already knew about the One Health and ENHANCE project, others had barely heard of either. That was the point. A tool that only makes sense to specialists is not going to get very far.
What People Liked
Navigation was not a problem. The aquaculture expert found the prototype straightforward to use, liked the colours and the custom notification system, and said they would recommend it to the farmers they work with.
The interactive map scored well. The scientist, whose research focuses on tracking chemical exposure and its health effects, appreciated that datasets were made available to different types of stakeholders rather than locked behind a single user type. The alert section stood out too. The scientist found it genuinely useful, noting it could serve researchers, health professionals and the general public alike.
The diver, who regularly monitors the Catalan coast and had experience with citizen science platforms, liked the map and found the quiz concept interesting. But what the diver kept coming back to was something harder to design: the feeling that you are part of a community rather than feeding data into a void. “The community aspect is the most important part,” the diver said, “to feel you are not talking to a machine.”
For the teacher, who works in education near the Pagasitikos Gulf, the early warning system stood out immediately. Receiving notifications about water quality was exactly the kind of practical information the teacher would want, and they were clear about the format: SMS, not email. As an educator constantly looking for ways to make environmental topics tangible for young children, the idea of connecting real coastal data to classroom learning made immediate sense.
The interviews also made the stakes concrete in a way that project documents rarely do. The swimmer lives near the Pagasitikos Gulf and recalled a 2023 pollution event: “After the event in 2023 I drove 70km to find a safe place to swim.” A tool that could have answered that question in five minutes would have made a real difference. The engineer, who was near Volos during the 2023 floods, put it plainly: “The 2023 disaster in Volos was a wake-up call.” These are not hypothetical scenarios.
Points for Improvement
The visual side of the prototype drew mixed reactions. The diver felt the interface was not yet attractive enough to invite curiosity and was missing the imagery that draws people in regardless of age or background. The teacher, thinking about what would work for children, was even more direct: not interactive enough, needs more pictures, and the colours on risk maps should be simple and intuitive, green to yellow to red. Both flagged translation into local languages as a basic requirement before the tool can reach the audiences it is supposed to serve.
The scientist raised the question of what happens before a user signs up. The teacher agreed: they wanted to understand what the platform offered and see the data before committing to registration. Asking people to create an account before they can see anything is a high barrier, especially for audiences who are not already motivated by the subject.
Terminology was another gap. The aquaculture expert pointed out that the bell icon for notifications was not immediately recognisable, and that the language throughout assumes scientific literacy that most users will not have. The scientist, who works with raw research datasets, flagged the tension from the other direction: “Researchers would be more interested in the raw data than in visualisations.” The platform cannot optimise for both audiences at once without making deliberate choices.
The aquaculture expert also brought the farmers’ perspective into sharp focus. Mussel producers face temperature spikes that can wipe out entire harvests, salinity changes after heavy rain, Blue Crabs moving into their waters, and storm damage to ageing infrastructure. What they need is information they can act on today, not this week. “Aquaculture farmers complain about everything,” the aquaculture expert said, “but if you ask them how research can help they say they don’t need anything.” Earning their trust requires showing the platform understands what they are actually up against.
Ideas to Build Upon
More images. That was the diver’s main suggestion. Visual content works for all ages and makes the platform feel alive rather than clinical. Lower the entry point rather than raising the bar.
The scientist’s ideas pointed toward depth for professional users: metadata, statistical data with time series, pictures of species, and dedicated information on chemical exposure. The alert section in particular could be expanded to help health professionals and researchers trace connections between environmental conditions and disease patterns.
The aquaculture expert’s suggestions were more structural. They proposed letting users customise their landing page by location and user type, adding mussel farm locations to the map, and making case study areas visible on arrival. Getting farmers to engage at all is the hard part. Once they are in, they benefit. The platform should make that first step easier.
The teacher saw a clear opportunity in the education angle. They suggested letting teachers select age groups within a dedicated learning hub, linking the platform to existing environmental initiative databases, and building in more interactive elements for younger audiences. Children learn better with engaging content, they said, and there are already platforms out there connecting people to environmental volunteering and local solutions. ENHANCE could link to them for collaboration.
The community angle came through from multiple people. The feedback loop between contributors, the sense of meeting people through shared observations, the idea that your data matters to someone: these were not nice extras but the reason people come back. That is worth building around.
Where Things Stand
Six interviews do not answer all questions but they do give great insights. The visual prototype works, the concept is credible, and the people who tried it could see the point. What needs attention now is the layer between the data and the person looking at it: clearer visuals, accessible language, a defined audience, and enough relevance to be useful on a Tuesday morning when a farmer needs to decide whether to harvest, a teacher is planning next week’s lesson, or someone just wants to know if the water is safe.
The insights gathered through these six interviews are directly feeding into the next stage of development. The ENHANCE team is taking on board every point raised, from clearer visuals and more accessible language to a better defined audience and stronger day to day relevance, as it prepares the first version of the platform expected in August and September 2026. If you would like to be among the first to test it, stay tuned: we will be reaching out to invite a wider group of end users to take part in the next round of validation. The more perspectives we hear, the better the tool will serve everyone who depends on a healthy, well monitored marine environment.
Based on user interviews conducted across the Barcelona and Pagasitikos Gulf pilot regions as part of the ENHANCE Horizon Europe project (2024 to 2027).