By Angela Miele
Developments in GIS data capture, using handheld devices, satellite imagery, and drones, are empowering governments and conservation organizations to more effectively fight for species survival. Here are four recent examples of GIS technologies being implemented to stop poaching:
- DigitalGlobe. Digital Globe’s 30-centimeter resolution satellite imagery and Signature Analyst software are being deployed to locate elephant poachers in the DRC’s Garamba National Park. Poachers here are some of the worst environmental and human rights criminals in the world. Data collected on wildlife patrol activities, animal sightings, and imagery are analyzed with terrain data to identify potential hotspots for poaching activity, narrowing the monitoring range to areas of highest probability for environmental crime. You can read more about this project here.
- SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool). Since 2011, an international consortium of conservation organizations developed a handheld tool for on the ground data collection and spatial analytics to provide rangers with intelligence for targeting
surveillance. SMART is now used in 42 parks across eighteen countries in Africa and Asia. SMART uses open source software (OSS) by: Eclipse, Silk Icon Set, GeoSilk icons, uDig, Apache Derby, Hibernate, OpenCSV, Apache Commons Compress, Google Json, HatBox, Javassist, ehcache, Simple Logging Facade for Java, Apache Commons Exec, BIRT, Eclipse Babel, Language Packs. - DRONES. Professor Thomas Snitch, University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMAICS), has been a leader in effectively using drones to stop poachers. With data collected from radio collars, terrain data, data poaching activity and arrests, he predicts locations where onslaughts are most likely to occur. Following analysis, drones are sent to confirm the hotspots so that ranger activity can be effectively deployed.Drones are currently restricted in most of Africa, but South Africa is expected to release regulations (any day now) for licensing the use of drones for conservation purposes. Meanwhile, collaborating with Snitch and UMAICS, Air Shepherd and the Lindbergh Foundation finished a
www.rfcx.org
crowdsourcing campaign to position drone teams against poaching threats across the Continent. Their efforts may be viewed here!
- SOUND. While the above tools utilize imagery for detection, Rainforest Connection (RFCx), a San Francisco-based non-profit startup founded by Topher White, developed a sound detection system from recycled Android handsets that can pick up suspect audio signals through miles of rainforest. Two weeks after installing its first testing of the system, they were able to geo-locate (and stop) illegal logging in Sumatra. Thirty of their devices are being deployed across 10,000 hectacres of protected land in Cameroon.
