Hi @kierancamb 

A colleague of mine let me know about this thread as it's very similar to lots of things we've built (Angel Shark sightings map, Thames Marine Mammal sightings map for example). Thinking about it more this could be a simple online free and open source tool.

It could use a JSON schema compiled form made through an interface much like: https://jsonform.github.io/jsonform/playground/index.html?example=schema-morecomplex

And take a parameter for an email address to send the results to.

You could then save the form schema and the email address in a bookmarkable URL and it could just let people fill the form out and send the results on. Annoyingly URLS have a 2000 character limit but we could take a parameter of a configuration file stored elsewhere (Office Online, Google Docs, PasteBin, GitHub) that way the form would be editable by who created it too.

If anyone has any ideas on this or could also use something like it I'd happily start an open source GitHub project and build the basics.

Have been thinking about doing this for a while.

Hi Kieran and all,

I jump into the topic as I am doing research on data collection through mobile application in conservation. (I currently have a test in Cambodia in the education sector with a mobile app and the possibility for the ngo to push questions through notifications on the user's smartphone).

Kieran could you tell me what are the main problem of downloading an app for your users ? it seems it is a general concern, any idea why ?

i really believe in a system where people providing data should be incentivised for it so the data becomes of higher value and of higher quality.

Fabien

I'm part of a citizen science  biodiversity project and we ask our citizen scientists to use Kobo Toolbox's webforms to collect field data using a smart phone.  Kobo was started by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and gets funding from various organizations including branches of the United Nations.  https://www.kobotoolbox.org

KoBoToolbox is a suite of tools for field data collection for use in challenging environments. Our software is free and open source. Most of our users are people working in humanitarian crises, as well as aid professionals and researchers working in developing countries.

Project leaders design a webform and send people a link to the form. People load the  form in a browser when they have internet connection, then go into the field and fill out the form. The forms work both online and offline. If the users fill out the form when there is no internet  connection, the next time the users open the form when there is internet connection, the data is synced to the Kobo servers. 

Kobo has an admin interface where project leaders can view, edit, and download the data. Project leaders can use condtional logic when designing the questions on the  webform (if user answers yes, show question A; if users answers no, show question B).

@Michiko Thanks a lot for the motivation and guidance.

I am looking for a job in this sector for quite sometime but have been unable to find one. Since one must keep running the house, I am working in Jacobs as a design engineer for the last 2 years.

I will try and try and try. But if u do find something do let us all eager eco-concerned Indian engineers know.

Thanks Sam, presumably you have lots more power than would be available from the battery in a tracking collar.

Peter

Thanks Sam

I am looking at LoRa for high resolution GPS tracking, and the project also involves camera trapping at scent marking sites. Power is already limiting collar lifetime (most of it goes to the GPS rather than the LoRa module), but transmitting real time pictures from marking sites while the marking is going on would be neat.

Hi. I'm picking up on an older post but i'd love to know if a ruggedised tablet with a long battery life at a price NGOs can afford is still an  issue? Are there limitations to what you can find on the market still? What features do you need that you can't find currently? I ask as I work for Arm Ltd (supporters of Wildlabs.net) and I'm prototyping a tablet for the WHO to use for healthcare in rural communities in developing countries as they can't purchase anything suitable. If this sort of tablet would be useful in other sectors i'd be very interested to know. I'm not trying to sell anything (I promise!) I'm gathering evidence that there is market interest for such a device. I'm championing the need for tech to be designed for use cases that it currently isn't designed for eg off the shelf tablets don't help if you can't charge a device for 4 days and you face challenging physical conditions where you use it but you can't afford, nor do you need, military grade tablets. Thanks, Fiona

I haven't done research on the options recently. But last time I did, from a value perspective, I've been recommending a solid consumer tablet which you can then “ruggedize” with a case, screen protector, or even an underwater case. That plus one or more power banks will be cheaper than a rugged desiged version. Use the extra $ you save to get a backup tablet and swap out the case/protective gear if it fails.

Best way to get a decent deal on tablets (or anything really) is use Amazon Warehouse Deals or Blinq to buy open box returns. And get an Amazon Prime credit card for an additional 5% cash back on your purchases.

A couple of years ago I completed the Coursera course Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) with Charles Severance. I found it really well paced and well taught. He's a very personable tutor, and has also written a free book Python for Everybody, available as a PDF.

I found the Coursera course on R Programming with Roger Peng to be more difficult to follow, but I'm not sure whether that was down to the teaching style or the language itself. For R, I'd definitely recommend the best place to get started is swirl - Learn R, in R!

Happy coding

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Hi all,

Great to see this post continue to mature. Some good news for you all. Arribada has finished developing a lower cost open source Argos ARTIC R2 transmitter design with our development partners Icoteq for a National Geographic project. All thanks to @ThomasGray_Argos who originally gifted us 3 R2 development chips to work on an open reference design.

It's compatible with the Arribada Horizon GPS tracker, or cellular module if both are required in one device / unit. We'll look to integrate one of the LoRa radios from the Open Collar initiative too to create a comprehensive open solution that can be tweaked to form a viable pangolin tracker based on the attachment and epoxy designs above (thanks for the paper @Robin+Poches  , great research).

However, first up is Bangladesh for some open ocean plastics tracking.

More info here for now - https://www.icoteq.com/icoteqs-argos-satellite-transceiver-now-certified-by-cls/

Cheers,

Alasdair