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discussion / Acoustics  / 18 March 2026

Safe and Sound project report: Is Camtrap DP a suitable standard for (bio)acoustic data?

Julia Wiel

Julia Wiel

PhD students on bioacoustics, both for marine and terrestrial environment. From the data collection in the field in remote areas, to the analysis using AI. I am eager to help developping cutting-edge technologies to bring up the voice of the wildlife!
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Dear WILDLABS community,

We are pleased to share with you the publication of the Safe and Sound project report: Is Camtrap DP a suitable standard for (bio)acoustic data? Carried out under the auspices of the Boring Fund 2024 with funding from WILDLABS and Arm Ltd.
 

Download the report here: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/5343743

 

What is next?

After a year of consultations, workshops, and discussions, it became clear how important and urgent it is to develop a data standard that improves the exchange of PAM results. This is what motivates us to continue our work this year on an updated version of Camtrap DP that accommodates acoustic data.

Before updating Camtrap DP, it is essential to reach consensus across the community on the terminology used to describe datasets. This community includes PAM users, as well as camera trap researchers. We invite you to get involved by:

  1. Reading the report
  2. Contributing to the discussion via  GitHub issues
  3. Testing how your own dataset can be mapped to Camtrap DP
  4. We also plan to establish a TDWG Task Group. Please contact us by email if you would like to join.

In parallel, we will explore how ecoacoustic datasets can be mapped to Camtrap DP and further assess the standard’s suitability for marine and bat studies. If you work in one of these areas and are interested in contributing, please get in touch ([email protected], [email protected]).

To dedicate more time to this work and release the next version of Camtrap DP with acoustic terms sooner, we are currently seeking funding. If you are aware of relevant opportunities, particularly as part of a larger project, we would be glad to contribute to a proposal.

 

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to advancing the standardisation of acoustic data together.

Best wishes,

The Safe and Sound team

Julia Wiel - Sanne Govaert  - Peter Desmet - Benjamin Cretois



Kristoffer Noriel Ordoñez
@knordonez
A wildlife conservation professional working towards protecting mountain ecosystems and preserving cultural landscapes through climate action initiatives
Involvement level 1

12 April 2026 6:19pm

Your report on extending Camtrap DP to bioacoustics resonated with something we are just beginning to explore in Mindoro Island, Philippines.

We have ongoing camera trap deployments in interior forest habitats and are beginning to examine the acoustic layer embedded in those recordings, particularly for nocturnal species such as the Mindoro Boobook. The discussion around terminology and how datasets are structured feels especially relevant, though I am still trying to understand how frameworks like Camtrap DP would apply in practice to this kind of data.

It is encouraging to see this direction being shaped at the community level. I will be following this closely as we continue to learn and figure out how our own datasets might eventually align.