Conservation in the Cloud: Leveraging mobile technology connecting tourism & resource managers

1,8Levenson, J., 2Thompson, M., 3Grétarsdóttir, R., 4Rasmussen, M., 5Harris, E., 6Cooper, R., 6Hardy, S., 6Nelson, P. 7Heber, K.

1U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy, USA2 NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, USA3Elding Whale Watch Excursions, Iceland4University of Iceland, Iceland5Caribbean Association of Whale Watchers, Dominica6Western Atlantic Conservation Institute, USA7Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA8Conserve.IO, USA

Idea, Vision and Caveats

Bridge the gap between citizen science and professional scientists

Produce platform(s) “once” Provide technology to students, whale watch companies,

conservation groups for freeEnable coordinated data collection and crowd-sourcing

without the head-ache of developing the platformLong term: provide an “Environmental Navigation Layer”Enable effort-based standardized data collection that’s

flexible and adaptive

• Each organization maintains control of data

• Cloud based

• Works offline

• Export for analysis

• Optional contribution to Ocean Alert Network

Spotter Overview

Fostering Collaboration

Creates a collaborative biodiversity survey among diverse stakeholders

Enables collaboration across a wide geographic area

Standardized Effort Based Collection

Insert slide on spotter screen

Complex Analysis

Legend

Behaviors

<all other values>

Elding Behaviors

Bubble Trail

Feed (Surface)

Lunge

Leap

Tail Lob

Head-Up

Head Rise

Breach

Surfing

Feeding

Travel

Deep Dive (high arch)

Shallow Dive

Spout

Mill

Reykjav k

Behavior (color) with symbol scaled by frequency of reported occurrence Reykjavik

From survey to resource managment

Observations

Cloud Sync Quality

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Export