In the first version, the Slug Sleuth app is designed to record sightings of the Giant Pink Slug within its known range. In future, the app will also allow users to record sightings of the two most commonly encountered snail species. Data collected using this app will help environmental managers, land managers and the community learn more about the distribution and habitat for this threatened ecological community, and assist the implementation of long term conservation strategies.

All data submitted via this app will ultimately be made available through BioNet, NSW’s corporate biodiversity data repository. BioNet data is accessible to researchers, land managers, government agencies and the public via the BioNet website and the SEED portal. The app is available for both Apple and Android devices.

Of special interest to Gaia Resources is that this app is developed to submit data to the NPWS BioSys repository. BioSys is an open-source, standards-based data management system built specifically for biological data. The system has a flexible data schema model that allows users to create a schema specific to the structure of their data, and that can apply to just about any sorts of biological and ecological data. It was initially developed in collaboration with Paul Gioia and DBCA biodiversity informatics staff.

Other apps developed on the BioSys platform and recently released include I Spy Koala, also for NSW DPIE.

The post NSW DPIE – Slug Sleuth App appeared first on Gaia Resources.

This free application-as-a-service approach allowed us to build a form and mapping capability based on a specific questionnaire to capture observations of black cockatoos of various species roosting or feeding in trees in the Perth and Peel region. Data is collected and stored through an easy-to-use Google Sheet approach that the client can manage into the future. The app was successfully deployed and is now being used to capture valuable data to support Birdlife Australia’s future land management decisions.

The post Black Cockatoos Citizen Science app appeared first on Gaia Resources.

The design allowed for multiple projects to be available via a single app login so that volunteers could choose to participate in any project. Each project had an independent data schema and the app would check in to the schema server on startup to ensure the latest schema was in use. This saved users from having to update the app in some circumstances when schema changes were made.

All projects allowed for ad hoc observations of the target taxa to be recorded. The Flying-foxes also provided for foraging species to be noted from a controlled list, and a ‘map view’ of all project records to date. Frogs and Beneficial Insects additionally provided a timed survey component that required additional training to be taken online in order for that functionality to be unlocked for each trained user.

Images and recordings associated with each record were also able to be uploaded, to aid the researchers in validating the identity of the taxon being observed, via the curation component in the backend.

Importantly, additional projects can be added to the app over time using the flexible schema server model.
For example, in 2019 a major Possum and Glider project covering all Australian species was added to the Urban Wildlife app. This was also significant as it was a project arising in a sister NESP project – the Threatened Species Recovery Hub.

Key Outcomes

• Observations, map views and survey components could be flexibly added to any project
• Multiple projects with independent data schemas in the app
• Single point of registration and login
• Offline record creation and upload once back online
• Admins can mark users as trained via the server backend to ‘unlock’ survey functionality in the app
• Simple curation/validation and full data download in CSV format available via admin backend

The post Clean Air Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Urban Wildlife app appeared first on Gaia Resources.

This was done with three main development components;

• a new back end system for the storage of the data about where the soil samples were taken,
• a new web-based form for the submission of samples through the web, and
• a new iOS mobile tool to facilitate the offline capture of information at the point of sampling.

All of this work was done under a technology partnership arrangement with the Microblitz team.  This included our attendance at different events to support the team and the technologies that underlie the project.

The launch of the new app was announced on ABC local radio – you can listen to an excerpt from the show using the media player below.

In 2017, we were (re-)engaged under an Inspiring Australia grant to refresh the Microblitz site, develop additional functionality and re-release the project in early 2018.

Read more about the project on the Citizen Science Hub at this link, or download the app directly from this link.

The post Microblitz appeared first on Gaia Resources.

• The bat survey project, where our staff recorded bats around the Perth metropolitan area using Anabat recorders and our mobile tools (see our blog here from back in 2012),
• Our Night Stalk event we held back in 2011 (aka “don’t ask Piers to identify a possum”),
• The mole cricket experiments, where we used social media to record sightings of mole crickets (see our various blogs about this interesting insect),
• Piers has migrated his own bird observations into our Gaia Resources BDRS instance, and has set up an ongoing survey using our mobile tools, and
• Our “coffee” survey – where we have been using the app to record how good – or bad – the coffee is on our travels.

There are a number of other projects we’ve looked at with staff, and will be adding to in the future as we devleop more internal projects.

The post Citizen Science Projects appeared first on Gaia Resources.

• Citizen Science and Prawns
• New versions of Prawn Watch app

The post Prawn Watch appeared first on Gaia Resources.

The post Discovery Circle appeared first on Gaia Resources.

This project involved the creation of a new App, based on the Coastal Walkabout App but restricted the sightings to the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus).

The two Apps delivered observations of the dolphins to an implementation of the BDRS, where they contributed to the wider range of data available for research.

This project was discontinued in 2017 and the Apps withdrawn from the app stores.

The post Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre appeared first on Gaia Resources.

This was our first terrestrial citizen science app, launched back in December, 2013, and in early 2015 was given a round of polishing and re-release of the app.  You can read more about the launch of the app on our blog at this link.

The app can be downloaded from the various mobile stores at:

• iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-marri-app/id742004918?mt=8
• Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gaiaresources.bdrsmobile.murdochmarri&hl=en

The post Marri Canker appeared first on Gaia Resources.

This project initially involved the creation of a new Dolphin Watch App for the project, which was based on the Coastal Walkabout App, but with two major changes;

• Dolphin Watch restricts sightings to Bottlenose Dolphins, and
• The tracking component from Coastal Walkabout has been replaced with a customised “Dolphin Watch” tracker that only records position within the specific zones that are set up for the Dolphin Watch survey.

In terms of infrastructure, the original Dolphin Watch Apps deliver observations of the Bottlenose Dolphins to the Coastal Walkabout implementation of the BDRS, where they are then added to the wider range of data available for research.  The Apps also deliver the Dolphin Watch survey data into the Dolphin Watch database that is managed by Swan River Trust.  The new version – 2.0 – changed all this, and has a new framework and back end system, based on our Project Hydra citizen science toolkit.

We have written a number of different blogs about this project, including:

• Welcome to Dolphin Watch!
• The other side of citizen science
• Dolphin Watch training
• A day in the sun!
• Dolphins or sharks?
• Dolphin Watch App Training by the River
• The #nodolphin story
• Dolphin Watch 2.0 Released!
• Dolphin Watch 3.0 launched

You can get the Dolphin Watch app for free from the iTunes or Google Play stores by clicking on either of the buttons below.

In 2015, the Dolphin Watch project was also a finalist at the WAITTA INCITE Awards in the Society category, and became a national finalist.

The post Dolphin Watch appeared first on Gaia Resources.

The Coastal Walkabout project was a development project that Gaia Resources were involved in throughout 2013 an in subsequent years. Gaia Resources deployed our now-deprecated BDRS product for the Coastal Walkabout project, and also developed Android and iPhone apps for the project.

The projects was closed in 2018, with all data returned to its original custodian as is our policy in such circumstances.

The post Coastal Walkabout appeared first on Gaia Resources.

The post Birds in Backyards appeared first on Gaia Resources.