Software and mobile applications are equally as important to conservation technology as the hardware used in the field. Increasingly developed specifically for #tech4wildlife needs, there are mobile apps and software options designed to help with protected area management, wildlife crime reporting, and anti-poaching patrol planning, data analysis, community science, data visualization and GIS mapping, outreach and engagement, and even conservation storytelling.
Likewise, mobile games have opened up new avenues for engaging the public in conservation efforts, allowing for immersive storytelling and interactive experiences. By combining cutting-edge technology and important conservation information with a media form already familiar to the public, conservationists are finding exciting ways to make audiences feel personally invested in critical species and habitats.
Whether you're looking for software and mobile app developers to help you with your own conservation tech needs, you have questions about development, you're looking for resources, or you'd like to share your own app, software, or gaming tools, this is the group for you!
Header photo: Trevor Hebert
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July 2021
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Can gaming help conservation? - Wildsense Tiger App
27 November 2015 11:01am
28 December 2015 7:09pm
Hi Steph,
Thanks for your message. I would be delighted to answer your question about Wildsense.
You are correct that our aim is to do a lot more than raise awareness and engange citizens with our Wildsense Tigers game.
We are using images from a range of image sharing websites that have been uploaded by people online and publicly shared. Each photograph contains valuable information that often includes the time and location that the photograph is taken. If we can understand when a photo was taken, where it was taken, and the individual animal in the photograph, then we can start to build up a picture of the movement of individuals. We are benefiting from people power from the users that are both indirectly uploading photographs online and also directly interacting with our Wildsense game. We are combining this with computing power with our data analysis, computer vision and machine learning software.
We are doing this experiment on a large scale and we believe that "the wisdom of the crowd" will enable us to gather and analyse enough information so that we can build an accurate picture. We started with wild tigers and our plan is to create a platform that can be used for other species as well. We are working on other animals already behind the scenes.
I hope that answers your question.
Best wishes,
Aaron Mason
11 January 2016 1:29pm
Hi Aaron,
It's a great concept of using gaming for the benefit of conservation, but I do have one big question about Wildsense and tigers. Since poaching is one of the main threats to the 3,000 or so remaining wildl tigers, there are great risks involved with publicizing the location and timing of any tiger sightings.
Furthermore, this approach can probably only work for Bengal tigers, since other tiger species, such as Sumatran and Malayan, are very rarely sighted, even by the most dedicated conservationists ( or poachers), as their jungle habitat is so dense. For Bengal Tigers, there are already ventures for online monitoring and identificaton, such as Tigernation.org.
Good luck with your project. Barbara from BiodiversityBusiness.
11 January 2016 6:33pm
Hi Barbara,
You are right in that cyberpoaching is becoming an increasing risk. I have seen various cases where information posted on social media has provided too much information and then ended up in the wrong hands (e.g. http://www.army.mil/article/75165/Geotagging_poses_security_risks/).
We need to be careful about the accuracy of information that is disclosed. Providing an approximate time and location seems to be the most popular adopted approach.
Hacking is another issue. For example, I have seen research demonstrating the potential to gain unauthrised access to GPS collar data.
Our main focus has been the Bengal Tiger but we want to see how much we can learn about other tigers as well. Our end goal is to support a range of animal species.
P.S. I am pleased that you are aware of http://www.tigernation.org - I co-founded it :)
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4 April 2016 9:33am
Hah! I just logged in to post this. I talked with the G4C people the other day. Thanks fo beating me to it.