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Geospatial data and analysis is critical for conservation, from planning to implementation and measuring success. The Geospatial group focuses on all aspects of this field, from field surveys to remote sensing and data development/analysis to GIS systems.

Group curators

Vance Russell
Over 35 years of experience in biodiversity conservation worldwide, largely focused on forests, rewilding and conservation technology. I run my own business assisting nonprofits and agencies in the conservation community
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discussion

Learning and Training Resources for Remote Sensing - contributions welcome!

Thomas Starnes

23 May 2017 11:55am

Hi group, I just wanted to draw attention to this great remote sensing training resource. There is a webinar series coming up on remote sensing for supporting UN Sustainable...

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Thomas Starnes

19 June 2017 2:37pm

I was just thinking along those lines. Yes, whatever you think would be the best structure for collating learning resources.

Stephanie O'Donnell

19 June 2017 2:50pm

We've had similar threads in other groups collating/crowd sourcing info - e.g. recommendations for gear like turtle satellite tags, GSM camera traps or tablets for field research, likewise for collecting a list of citizen science apps, and creating a respository of the different projects using deep learning. @jprobert  works really hard to keep our formal resources area updated, but having a live thread as well draws one of the biggests benefits of having this community by enabling everyone to contribute. 

Long story short, I think it's a good idea - if you get it started I'll share any resources I come across :) 

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discussion

Apply now for the 2017 Annual Geo for Good User Summit

Dave Cortright

15 June 2017 7:20pm

Copied from an email invitation I received. An exciting opportunity is coming up in October: a hands-on technical workshop hosted by the Google Earth Outreach team....

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Thomas Starnes

16 June 2017 10:14am

Fantastic opportunity - thanks for sharing, @dave !

The Google Earth Engine User Summit 2017 was convened this week also at Google in CA. I know that @andyarnell went and I'm hoping that he will feed back to the group.

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discussion

CCF GIS Group Social

Thomas Starnes

11 April 2017 9:02am

It's that time again; on Thursday 13th we'll be heading to The Eagle on Benet Street from 18:00 to talk maps. This informal social event is for people with an...

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Thomas Starnes

24 April 2017 10:35am

The next social is on Thursday 27th - same details as above. Hope to see you there!

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discussion

CCF GIS Group Social

Thomas Starnes

11 April 2017 8:50am

It's that time again; on Thursday 13th we'll be heading to The Eagle on Benet Street from 18:00 to talk maps. This informal social event is for people with an...

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discussion

QGIS UK Midlands & East User Group meeting

Thomas Starnes

20 March 2017 9:57am

This is the first QGIS (Midlands & East) user group meeting on Thursday 18th May in Cambridge. Tickets are free thanks to the sponsors - British Antartic Survey. Thu 18 May...

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Thomas Starnes

11 April 2017 8:44am

This meeting will now be followed by the Missing Maps May Mapathon - Cambridge from 18:00 - 20:30, which will also be hosted at the British Antarctic Survey. We also plan to squeeze in a post-mapping drink at The Punter just down the road. Open source GIS followed by humanitarian mapping, followed by free pizza and a pint - what more could you ask for!?

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discussion

Missing Maps April Mapathon - Cambridge

Thomas Starnes

21 March 2017 7:30pm

Join us for another evening of mapping (and pizza!). No previous experience required.  On Wednesday 5th April from 6pm-8:30pm, we are hosting a...

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Thomas Starnes

6 April 2017 12:07pm

Hi Steph,

It was fantastic! We had a full house, with all 40 tickets sold out and really good attendance rate. We were mapping an area of Zimbabwe for the Clinton Health Access Initiative's malaria program. We were joined remotely by some collaborators at OpenStreetMap Bangladesh, and together we completed > 70% of the task. The next Cambridge Missing Maps is going to be at the British Antarctic Survey on Thursday 18th May and you can register here! We hope to include the David Attenborough Building on the Missing Maps Cambridge circuit for future events. The Cambridge Conservation Forum GIS Group are also planning to hold a MapforEnvironment event in the very near future, which will of course be advertised on WILDLABS.NET!

Thanks!

Stephanie O'Donnell

6 April 2017 2:11pm

Sounds awesome! Will you be working to finish the other 30% at the next meeting, or working on a new project? 


Adding in a great photo you posted from the event on Twitter last night :) 

Thomas Starnes

11 April 2017 8:33am

Thanks for adding the photo from the event. Missing Maps is becoming really popular, so tasks get completed quite quickly. We shared the task numbers for people to finish off at home if they wanted to, but by the time of next month's mapping party, this task will long have been completed so we'll be working on another one! I hope you can make it on Thursday 18th May.

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discussion

lidar imagery

Paul Glover-Kapfer

6 March 2017 11:53am

Hi All, Does anyone have some lidar imagery they would be willing to share? Imagery will be used for best practice guidelines and supporting website, and will be credited so...

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Stephanie O'Donnell

7 March 2017 11:11am

Hi Paul, 

So you have had the good fortune to make this ask during our annual #Tech4Wildlife photo challenge, but unfortunately you've been foiled on this ask (unlike the acoustic and camera trapping photos) - we've yet to see any lidar images shared in the photo challenge. So I'll add a request on top of your request.. if you do have some lidar images that you are willing to share with Paul, please add them to the #tech4wildlife photo challenge mix over on Twitter as well! 

To participate this year, all you need to do is: 

  1. Take a photo of how you are using tech to save wildlife
  2. Share it on Twitter: tell us a bit about your work and the tech featured
  3. Remember to use the hashtag #Tech4Wildlife and tag us at @WILDLABSNET

Cheers,

Steph 

Thomas Starnes

31 March 2017 10:19am

Hi @P.Glover.Kapfer 

Have you looked at the Environment Agency LiDAR data available under the Open Government Licence and available from http://environment.data.gov.uk/ds/survey/index.jsp#/survey?

It might also just be worth asking Amphibian and Reptile Conservation whether their LiDAR data are available. They have a 2 ppm coverage of the New Forest National Park from 2015 which is shared with Natural England (contact Arne Loth). The New Forest National Park Authority also have a 4 ppm dataset from a few years previous, though I'm not sure what the copyright status is with that one (contact Lawrence Shaw).

As a fairly frequent LiDAR user, I'd be interested to know more about your best practice guidelines and website.

Thom

 

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discussion

Welcome to the GIS group!

Thomas Starnes

16 March 2017 5:59pm

Hello and welcome to the WILDLABS.NET GIS group! We felt that, being such a broad-spectrum and cutting-edge tool in conservation, GIS deserved its own group within the WILDLABS...

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Byeong-Hyeok Yu

30 March 2017 4:25pm

Hello. I'm working at Korea National Park Service, GISP, and a charter member of OSGeo Foundation. I'm teaching various open source GIS applications such as QGIS, GRASS GIS, Orfeo ToolBox, OpenDroneMap. Nice to know this GIS group!

Luis Gustavo de Oliveira Paes Leme

30 March 2017 5:47pm

Hello, I am currently using QGIS for assessing conservation planning effectiveness and identifying gaps in networks of protected areas in the Neotropics. It's really nice to be able to share and gather knowledge about GIS functionalities.

 

Paul Millhouser

31 March 2017 12:52am

Hi, I'm a GIS consultant to conservation and research groups, mostly using ArcGIS and, increasingly, QGIS. Lately I've been doing a lot of work with satellite imagery. I've done quite bit of Python programming as well. I hope to meet like-minded folks for information-sharing and maybe even collaboration. 

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discussion

RGS Geo-technologies for field research workshops

Thomas Starnes

21 March 2017 7:54pm

Have you seen these two RGS Geo-technologies for field research workshops? Open source GIS and field monitoring with Arduino Open source remote sensing and...

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Joel Masselink

29 March 2017 4:42pm

Thanks for sharing. It looks as though they've recently been cancelled.

Thomas Starnes

29 March 2017 6:13pm

Thanks for the update, @joelm . I wonder why they were cancelled - lack of uptake or something else? I'll see what I can find out.

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discussion

Conservation GIS Group Social

Thomas Starnes

21 March 2017 7:25pm

The second bi-monthly Conservation GIS social of 2017 will be at The Eagle on Benet Street from 18:00 on Thursday 23rd March. This informal social event is for people with an...

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Thomas Starnes

27 March 2017 7:35am

Last week's GIS social topics included:

  • IfSAR and InSAR Interferometric synthetic aperture radar, as used by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in their new TanDEM-X high resolution global digital elevation model. The new GDEM has a vertical accuracy of < 1 metre and an xy resolution of 6 metres. You can read more on the project web page https://tandemx-science.dlr.de/.
  • Using Maxim iButton termperature data logger arrays to monitor the diurnal temperature fluctuations of different habitats and microhabitats. We also touched on sampling design and interpolation methods.
  • Towards the end of the evening we discussed the difference between geodesic and Euclidian distances, the planar nature of the solar system (see Laplace's invariable plane) and whether the galaxy has a ‘right way up’.

Beverages of choice were Greene King’s Abbot Ale and IPA Special Reserve. Put the next GIS social date in your calendar now and don’t miss out –  it’s Thursday April 13th.

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discussion

CCI International GIS Day

Jonathan Knox

8 November 2016 1:14pm

Do you use GIS? Are you interested in meeting GIS professionals at CCI? Would you like to know more about how GIS can help you achieve your conservation goals? To celebrate...

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Thomas Starnes

8 December 2016 5:58pm

CCI International GIS Day recap

GIS Day at CCI was a great success! We kept it short to try and maximise engagement and so that everyone could meet each other. Attendees have been sent a follow-up email, but if you've not received this or you want to know more then please message me for details.

It would be a great mini-legacy and a testament to the event if attendees could post a brief introduction / recap on this thread; just stating your occupation and interests, or anything that you took away from the event. Thanks to the organising committee @jonathanknox.ffi (FFI), @Tomswinfield (RSPB) and Andy Arnell (UNEP-WCMC). And thanks for the photos, @StephODonnell !

Thomas Starnes

8 December 2016 6:08pm

I'm a GIS Analyst at the RSPB. I'm part of a great team providing GIS technical support within the society. I get to work on everything from producing detailed reserve maps to analysing the effectiveness of protected areas and mapping habitats using remote sensing data. I also get to empower my colleagues to create their own maps by supporting our ArcGIS users and working on our in-house broweser-based GIS Merlin. Right now I'm working on developing our use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to produce orthomosaic habitat maps and vegetation height models on our reserves. I'm always interested to hear about other people's projects!

Steve Pritchard

5 January 2017 9:35am

I'm a software developer with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), working on online map-based applications for bird surveys (e.g. BirdTrack). My main focus is the databases (Oracle & Postgres, including spatial features) and preparing the GIS data using ArcGIS or QGIS. Our online applications are key to receiving survey data from a large number of volunteers and displaying the survey results back to the volunteers.

I also act as central contact point within the BTO for queries about GIS.

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discussion

Measuring distances between GPS points from a satellite collar

Maria Gatta

12 July 2016 6:55pm

Hello all,   I need to measure distances between sequential points of GPS collar data which are in decimal degrees (lat/lon). I have successfully created a distance...

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Maria Gatta

14 July 2016 11:53am

Figured it out.

Even though I was in the right projection (ie: UTM), I was not aware that I had to calculate the coordinates myself. All you need to do is create two new columns for X and Y coordinates, and right click in each column: choose calculate geometry, and then select X and Y according to the column you're at. It calculates the coordinates in your chosen unit (mine is meters). The "new" coordinates can be used then in adehabitatLT to obtain distance measurements in a trajectory.

Sam Rycken

4 December 2016 5:21am

Hey MGatta, I'm working with adehabitatLt as well, i have a good paper on spatial referencing your data and changing your coordinates  to UTM, if you want it (by C.J.Brown).

I assume that the process you did to change to meters was in Excell, before using the coordinates in R?

Kind regards,

Sam

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discussion

Earth Observation from Space: the Optical View

Thomas Starnes

22 September 2016 9:56am

There's an online course created by the European Space Agency (ESA) currently running on Futurelearn. The course started on 12th September but there's still time to join!...

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Stephanie O'Donnell

22 September 2016 4:37pm

Really interesting project! When are you expecting to have some results? Do you think the use of drones was beneficial for the project? Will you be using them again?

Thomas Starnes

19 October 2016 8:19am

We're expecting to have some results by the end of the year. We can already see that the use of a drone was beneficial for media and communication for the expedition, but I expect it to come into its own when we make full use of the orthomosaic aerial photography and digital surface model from photogrammetry which we are hoping to use in order to elucidate metrics of vegetation structure in relation to the forest edge. If we discover something really cool, I will post it here!

Thomas Starnes

19 October 2016 8:23am

Now the course is officially over, I wonder how people found it? Too difficult, too easy or just right?

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discussion

Drone Training in the U.S.

Sean Anderson

5 May 2016 9:46am

Things just got a whole lot easier for those of us at universities who train students to use drones as tools for conservation.  Many of the restrictions we had to suffer...

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discussion

Conservation apps with a GPS focus

John Probert

5 April 2016 3:27pm

I've found two conservation apps that might be of interest to the community. 1. Solocator - A photo taking app that immediately records elevation, latitutde/...

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Chavoux Luyt

26 April 2016 2:34pm

My goto application is CyberTracker. It can be adapted on your desktop exactly to record the data that you want (including pictures and GPS reading, but not compass direction). 

Juan Reppucci

26 April 2016 4:53pm

Another option is OruxMaps, free for android, not very intuitive but very powerful. But it's important to bear in mind that phone GPS accuracy can be lower than "traditional" GPS, specially when part of the sky is blocked.

 Here is a test https://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2013/07/15/smartphones-tablets-and-gps-accuracy/

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