Citizen-collected rainfall data is filling gaps official gauges never covered
Several thousand volunteer readings a day are producing a picture at street resolution.
Official gauges are accurate and sparse. Volunteer gauges are less precise and everywhere, and for flood modelling that turns out to be the more useful trade.
How it holds up
Cross-checked against official stations, the volunteer network tracks closely enough for drainage planning, and it captures the local variation that a handful of stations cannot.
All readings are published openly.
