It is the worry of so many swimmers in summer: encountering jellyfish.
Because of this, a group of Majorcan friends have created “Grumering”, an app that gives information about the presence and absence of jellyfish.
It has been available for free download since the end of June and now has more than 5,000 reports and 2,500 downloads: approximately 100 new users per day.
Computing technician Miguel Cabrer, one of those behind the project, says that it was one born out of necessity.
“Though there are surveys of jellyfish, they are not in an instantaneous form.”
“Grumering” is very easy to use.
“Anyone going to a beach and observing whether there are or are not jellyfish present, makes a notification via the app and the information appears on a map.
“In this way, it is possible to plan days at the beach by knowing where the sea is clear of jellyfish.”
What though if someone plays a prank?
Miguel Cabrer acknowledges that there will always be pranksters, reporting, for example, on jellyfish in the Sahara, but the fact that anyone can make notifications reduces this problem. It is the “social component” that makes “Grumering” more interesting.
Although more people are involved in the project, it was a group of three who launched it and now see the “snowball effect” that it has produced.
They are wondering what to do with it, as the application has been deployed elsewhere - Valencia, Catalonia,southern France and further afield.
As it was a project conceived in a spontaneous way, there is no business plan as such.
However, Cabrer says that, once they see how it goes during August, they will consider possibilities. One option is for it to be an application for hotels, lifeguards and beach-bar owners.