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
Firmware/Electronics Engineer with 10+ years of experience building telemetry devices for wildlife conservation. I'm an avid birdwatcher and enjoy wildlife photography. CTO and Senior Engineer at Cellular Tracking Technologies.
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Program manager and recordist at The Acoustic Atlas
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- @GalZanir
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Luc Hoffman Institute
Wildlife Entrepreneur | Innovation for Nature Conservation | Systems-thinking | Web3.0 | Artificial Intelligence | Agency for nature | DAOs | Rewilding & more
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- @diyaquanauts
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Digital nomad, software developer, running mechatronic engineering firm in Seychelles to assist ocean conservation groups.
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Software Developer (movebank.org, firetail.de)
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- @dilip_singh556
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On the way to Bridge technology and Nature.
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Octophin Digital
Director at Octophin Digital building things for wildlife conservation.
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- @Lucille
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University of Bristol, University of Auckland & La Trobe University
Marine bioacoustician and elasmobranch scientist
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Wildlife Ecologist
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A Wildlife Biologist interested in Environment Assessment and Restoration, In-situ and Ex-situ strategies, Technologies used in Conservation and Illegal Wildlife Trade.
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Cornell University
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Thank you Carly, I will definitely take a look. |
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Acoustics, Biologging, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 week 1 day ago | |
Hello Friends,Its amazing to see the growing number of organisations working in biodiversity conservation.Biodiversity stories can have a... |
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Data management and processing tools, Software and Mobile Apps | 2 weeks 1 day ago | |
We will be conducting in-person demos of our cutting-edge drone technology in the US this year! 🇺🇸 If you're interested in experiencing... |
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Biologging, Drones, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 month 2 weeks ago | |
Hi Danilo. you seem very passionate about this initiative which is a good start.It is an interesting coincidence that I am starting another project for the coral reefs in the... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Community Base, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Sensors, Software and Mobile Apps, Wildlife Crime | 1 month 3 weeks ago | |
Hi!I would take a look at Although developed for camera trap imagery, it is by no means restricted to such.Cheers,Lars |
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Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Drones, Emerging Tech, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 2 months ago | |
I'm also here for this. This is my first comment... I've been lurking for a while.I have 20 years of professional knowledge in design, with the bulk of that being software design... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Software and Mobile Apps | 2 months 1 week ago | |
Trying to make sense of this brick product, the link provided is a bit vague. The front page talks about SIP trunking, so that implies it's all about telephone connectivity. And... |
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Software and Mobile Apps | 2 months 2 weeks ago | |
Hi folks! Happy 2024 and thanks in advance for your patience in case I over-used tags. If you’re using any form of natural language... |
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AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Early Career, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps, Wildlife Crime, Women in Conservation Tech Programme (WiCT) | 2 months 2 weeks ago | |
camtrapR has a function that does what you want. i have not used it myself but it seems straightforward to use and it can run across directories of images:https://jniedballa.... |
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Camera Traps, Data management and processing tools, Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps | 3 months 3 weeks ago | |
(duplicate) |
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Software and Mobile Apps | 3 months 3 weeks ago | |
I'm registered with the TWS2023 app, so feel free to nudge me there as well |
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Biologging, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 4 months 3 weeks ago | |
Thanks Arky! |
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Software and Mobile Apps | 4 months 3 weeks ago |
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OpenSource Drag and Drop Windows 10 software builder
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20 January 2020 3:46am
Hi Kas
LiveCode is open source (www.livecode.org) and can build for multiple platforms - Windows, MacOS, Linux + mobiles. Might be worth having a look at - it has an english-like scripting language and drag + drop GUI builder. You can develop on multiple platforms too so not limited to Windows.
You're probably already finished, but maybe someone else will find it useful.
2 February 2020 10:19am
Hi Alan,
Thanks for the suggestion.
I ended up using Visual Studio but will take a look at LiveCode for future work - sounds very cool.
Thanks,
Kas
Race against a GPS tagged snow leopard
21 October 2019 9:58am
20 January 2020 4:01am
URL is www.runtastic.com/run-wild
Software Camera Traps
25 November 2019 12:52pm
Very easy to use online form to collect sea turtle data
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27 August 2019 10:35am
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.
27 August 2019 1:35pm
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
20 November 2019 8:00pm
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).
Tablet Recommendations for Field Research
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16 November 2016 11:36am
Thank you both for this, much appreciated, we'll investigate. Chloe
1 November 2019 5:30pm
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
1 November 2019 5:42pm
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.
How do you weigh a live whale?
9 October 2019 12:00am
Download the SMART 2018 Annual Report
19 July 2019 4:16pm
20 September 2019 4:47pm
Great work Drew thanks for sharing, hopefully, for the 2019 report, we will have a greater presence of Latin American countries adopting SMART as we have ongoing training activities going on 03 "new smart countries" Brazil, Argentina & Paraguay.
Here is a post about Paraguay first SMART training, hold in the beginning of the month:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/paraguay-takes-first-step-towards-adopting-spatial-tool-spina-avino/
Regards!
data collection on mobile app
27 August 2019 4:05pm
27 August 2019 5:09pm
Hi Fabian,
In the interest of helping you get some useful feedback - did you have some more specific questions you wanted answered?
You might also want to have a look at this thread - Mobile App Comparison Table - as it might have some useful info about what people are looking for, particularly what they've listed under the pros/cons comparision of different mobile apps.
Steph
27 August 2019 7:46pm
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for the link I hadn't seen it. It's very usefull.
i realise I have listed a list of points without specific questions, here are a few:
Do people face difficulties in onboarding users ? What are the reasons for people doing observations in the field for not installing an app ?
We face in the education sector a problem of computer/smartphone literacy that requires the application interface to be very simple. Is this also the case in conservation projects ? Any suggestions to solve this ? Examples ?
Does incentivizing data collectors (users) make a difference in the onboarding process ? Quality of data ? Number of users ?
that's a few to start :)
Thanks
ICCB 2019: 5 Key Discussions about the Future of Conservation Tech
21 August 2019 12:00am
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What lessons have you learnt along the way when developing apps or software for conservation?
21 June 2017 5:57pm
20 October 2017 6:58am
I agree re: Venture Studio model. I feel like the ideal situation is where the studio team has at least one or two products already underway and out in the market, rather than starting with the consulting work to bootstrap the products. I'm in the latter situation at the moment, and turning down work is really hard.
I think there's the possibility for a situation where an anchor client who is aligned with a product vision is able to provide a core early chunk of seed funding in exchange for lifetime use (or guaranteed 5 years for example) of a product. That's a model I'm really excited about to get the $10-20k that you'd need to get to a proof of concept.
24 July 2018 1:26am
Great lessons around stakeholder engagement and project management in this article. Users and developers alike are key to your project. User requirements gathering can provide a lot of insight if done well but it can be hard to prioritise the magic that some users want versus what can be practically achieved by a developer with your time and budget constraints. Find advice from a good project manager or business analyst if you can to help with technical language and project design barriers. Definitely agree with the above comments on getting your developers engaged with your users where possible.
Field based users often want to spend as little time as possible with technology. You need to use their time wisely to capture their requirements. Make sure they feel listened to. You can never please them all but hopefully you can focus in on critical users and key priorities and they will bring the others along.
31 July 2019 8:49am
Lots of good ideas and advice from everyone.
Time/money/quality/speed/etc tradeoffs, as always. Start with your minimum viable product, get it out there (at least to your initial target users - early adopters/enthusiasts), and iteratively improve, if poss. Don't go for the Big Bang approach where everything is "perfect", because it won't be. Users expect a lot from apps - there are incredibly well-resourced companies putting out incredible apps for free - and users almost always expect more. So... if there's an existing app (like iNaturalist/eBird/...) that can do the job for you, use it, or work with them to adapt.
Additionally, mobile phone hardware/software upgrades can often result in app issues/upgrades being necessary, so plan on maintenance costs as well as enhancements along the way, as others have said. Particularly when targetting both major platforms (use a cross-platform dev tool!).
If you're lucky enough to have a volunteer development team, treat/reward them as well as possible, to keep the system going. Whether that's with money or publication co-authorship or beer, find a way.
Could probably comment more but should probably write a paper...!
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23 July 2019 12:00am
30 August 2019 10:48am
Hi Ricardo,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'll look into the electronjs.org option and see if I can get VS through the uni.
If you come across any other drag-and-drop style platforms (preferably free) that you can use to build windows 10 software, it would be great if you can pop me a message on this. Something like what you get when building a website through Wordpress or Wix would be perfect.
Cheers again!