WildTrax

What is WildTrax ?

With the advent of new environmental sensors to collect biological data, the rate and volume of data accumulation is unprecedented. The increasing use of environmental sensors has brought the challenges of ‘big data’ to the foreground of wildlife monitoring. WildTrax is an environmental data platform that simplifies the processing, organization, storage, and sharing of large and small environmental data sets.

WildTrax began as a solution to a home-grown problem. Since 2013 the ABMI, University of Alberta, and various partners amassed large volumes of data through the use of three initial sensors: remote cameras, ARUs, and point count data, which capture images of wildlife and record wildlife sounds. At 10 million images and half a petabyte (or 75 continuous years) of recordings and counting, data management has become an essential component of our programs. To use these data most effectively, we developed WildTrax.

What can WildTrax do for you?

Users can establish organizations, create projects, upload data, process data, and manage data through their WildTrax account. The core functions that WildTrax supports are storage, data and user management, processing, sharing, and discovery of WildTrax data.

The WildTrax platform is available for widespread use and offers an array of continuously improving tools to help in all aspects of working with sensor data. We continue to invest in research and development, particularly in the application of machine learning to develop auto-recognition software, to increase data processing efficiency and accuracy, and to provide other value-added data interpretation tools. These tools are released through the WildTrax platform for all users and organizations to use for their big data needs.

WildTrax also supports discovery of data by providing a data-discovery mapping interface that allows for spatial exploration and download of publicly available data. Researchers, land managers, and monitoring agencies can delve into publicly available data within their region of interest and identify opportunities to work with others who are actively using sensors for wildlife monitoring.