The municipal authority of Athens and Greece’s National Observatory have developed and released a new smartphone application aimed at helping city residents and visitors protect themselves from heat waves.

Available for download from Google Play and App Stores, Extrema Athens allows the user to create a unique profile and uses meteorological and other data to assess his or her risk of heat stroke. It also points to cool spots around the city on a map and allows for multiple user profiles to so that users can protect their children or elderly relatives from heat stroke, among other features.

“What is innovative about this application is that it transforms existing scientific knowledge into instant information for use by the general public via smartphone,” says Iphigenia Keramitzoglou, head researcher of the observatory’s Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing (IAASARS).

“It is an amazing combination of advanced space and IT technology, placed in the hands of the city’s residents,” she adds.

Similar applications have also been developed for Paris and Rotterdam, while the technology is expected to expand to more European cities in the near future.

This article was first published by ekathimerini.com