Barometers

Samsung's Galaxy Nexus is the most high-profile device to date to feature a barometer amongst its guts. Seems strange that a atmospheric pressure measurement would be crammed in a device where space is supremely valuable, right? Except it's actually wonderful.

Traditionally, barometers have been used to detect — and predict — short term changes in weather. Measured drops in pressure indicate rain is on the way. Sharply rising pressure signals clearer skies are ahead. But surely, Samsung and Google didn't conspire on this just to make more accurate weather predictions, right? Actually, maybe. But that's just part of it.

Weather Center

What if the barometer was used not to provide personalised weather predictions, but to provide data to a crowdsourced weather network for the common good of commuters/travellers/pedestrians everywhere? Imagine having a server interpret thousands of pressure readings in a small radius to give you very specific, very precise weather forecasts.

Presumably, such an idea would work best in a moderate-to-dense population area where there was a pretty constant and solid mesh net of barometric readings. How many phones would be required in a given area to accomplish this? According to the New York Times, the most prominent weather app that employs crowdsourced data is Weather Underground. They currently pull from 20,000 stations across the country. With a barometer in every phone? They could be pulling from 20,000 barometric sensors in a single neighbourhood or city.