Open Data Kit (ODK) is a suite of tools to help organizations collect, aggregate and visualize their data. The goals of ODK are to make open-source and standards-based tools which are easy to try, easy to use, easy to modify, and easy to scale.

The Problem

Current mobile data collection systems have a number of flaws that prevent wide scale adoption and use. First, they tend towards monolithic and inflexible systems that are hard to use and do not integrate well with other systems. Second, they rely on old technologies that cannot collect the rich data many organizations need to make their critical decisions. The combination of these two problems results in systems with limited lifetimes and high maintenance cost. Open Data Kit was designed to address these shortcomings.

What is Open Data Kit?

Open Data Kit (ODK) is an open source mobile data collection system designed to be highly so that components can reconfigured as needed.

The system harnesses rapidly evolving functionality on mobiles and on the internet into an easy to use package. The mobile client, ODK Collect, is built on the Android platform and can collect a variety of data types: text, location, photos, video, audio, and barcodes. ODK Aggregate is a web server built on Google's App Engine infrastructure. It provides a free and scalable repository where collected data can be stored, exported into a number of formats or visualized on a Google Map.

Instead of closed solutions with limited lifetimes, ODK builds on open technologies and open standards that guarantee interoperability and enable future capabilities. By using the XForms standard, ODK can share complex forms and data with systems such as OpenMRS, EpiSurveyor, and the OMC's JavaRosa.

Among ODK's users is USAID-AMPATH, the largest HIV treatment program in sub-Saharan Africa and Kenya's most comprehensive initiative to combat the disease. Over the next two years, ODK Collect will be used to conduct a home-based testing and counseling program reaching 2 million people.

More Information

ODK's developers are members of the University of Washington's Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

The project's demo videos, source code, current roadmap and current deployments are available online.