Scanning for Lifeforms

This challenge addresses a pressing global need to track change in biological diversity, which is threatened by human-driven environmental change. Use space agency data to develop innovative ways to detect biological diversity on Earth, track and predict changes over time, and communicate that information to scientists and society.

THE CHALLENGE : Action Before the Biological Tragedy

Summary

Our challenge addresses a pressing global need to track change in biological diversity, which is threatened by human-driven environmental change. Use space agency data to develop innovative ways to detect biological diversity on Earth, track and predict changes over time, and communicate that information to scientists and society.

How We Addressed This Challenge

“Bio diversity is the variety of life on earth at all levels of biological organizations.” natural and human driven behaviors and activities in the environment influence biological functions, behavior and its diversity.

Among the above reasons, Human activities (i.e: Travelling, Tourism, Cultivation, Industries…) affects the bio diversity in a large scale. This can be either a positive affect or a negative affect.

Amphibians, Reptilians, Birds, Insects and plans are some of the major categories who are affected on their diversity by human activities.


How We Developed This Project

OUR CHALLANGE

Our challenge is to observe how the travelling and tourism affects on the bio diversity of amphibians by tracking and predicting changes over time, and communicate that information to scientists and society. Simply our challenge has two methodologies

  1. Investigate the seasonal travelling and tourism trends referring social media data and compare those data with the satellite data on environmental changes of considering area and determine in which scale the travelling and tourism affected on the bio diversity of relevant area.
  2. Investigate the seasonal travelling and tourism trends referring social media data and inform the scientists and relevant authorities and organizations on the relevant environment, about the upcoming amounts of tourists and in which scale they will affect on the bio diversity. It will be a pre conscious for them to take actions on protecting the bio diversity.

Why we choose this challenge?

Reasons to select the Amphibians

·       Because they are a category who are most affected by travelling and tourism

E.g. : when we consider the environments which are concentrated by endemic species of  amphibians, their eggs and habitats could be destroyed even by a foot step, a camp fire. If those species are destroyed by such activities, the whole world will loss that species.

·       Their disappear will arise the biological imbalance.

Reasons to select social media data

·       Highly used by common

·       Most people are uploading their travelling and tourism data through the social media.

·       Easy to analyze the tourists behaviors with the environment

E.g. : The camping photographs, hash tag information, Photographs taken with animals, location uploads.

Note: We use the public data to the primary level lounge of our project due to disability of attain the social media data

Selected environments to primary level lounge

We selected the three environments which are mentioned below as they consists a huge concentration of endemic and rare species of amphibians, ecotypes and species included in red book.

1.    Pitavala Pathana – Sri Lanka

2.    Sinharala Rain Forest – Sri Lanka

3.    Horten Planes – Sri Lanka

How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project

OUR SOLUTION

We propose a solution to the destruction of healthy rate of bio diversity of amphibians by using real-time satellite, social media and public data. This project is targeted towards environmental organizations and authorities to have them an awareness about the tourists’ concentration for considering environments within considering time period and their behavior with nature.

The referred logical sets of data use as the input data:

1.    Satellite data on environmental changes of considering area such as..

  •   The spread of chlorenchyma
  •   Change of temperature
  •   Bio density
  •   Humidity and moisture
  •   The crash spreading in the relevant area

2. Data on Amphibian’s habitats in the considering environment.

3. Social media and public data.

Peoples travelling and tourism data such as…

  • Camping and hiking data
  • GPS and location data
  • Analyzing social media uploading photographs on travelling

How it works?

The above data are taken from global satellite data and the considering environmental data are filtering among them. Then compare satellite data and social media or public data with each other and get statistical analyzed data as output about

  • How the travelling and transport are effecting on the considering environment on time and inform the relevant organizations, authorities and public to take actions to protect the amphibian’s bio diversity in that area.
  • Predict to where? When? and how? the travelling and tourism trends are creating and inform the authorities to take pre actions to protect amphibian’s habitats.


The key advantages of our project

The actions are taken previously and on time. We are focusing on this advantage because there is no usage of talking and taking actions after the vanish of red book marked and rare endemic bio species to the world. There is no use of taking actions or talking about destroyed environments without taking previous actions to protect them. As common we introduced that lot of processes are going on to act after the mal incidents towards the environment but not awaken until it happens. We focus on ‘persuading whole world on act before the tragedies of amphibian’s bio diversity and environment.’


Future plans

To the primary level we lounge a proposal and a prototype. We hope to develop this proposal and the prototype to the levels mentioned below.

·        To filter the convenient data from global data and satellite, statistical analyzing and machine learning.

·        Develop to the web application level

·        Develop to the mobile app level

·        Develop to a hardware level

E.g: Develop a tool to take on time data on tourist’s behavior which is attachable to their travelling equipment such as compass, Telescope, Mobile phone, Camera…

·        Extend the users range

In this step, we hope to inform a second responsible party if the authorities are not active to the providing data and information.

·        Extend the considering environments to a global level.

Here we consider only 3 local environments. But we expect to extend our project for a level which is applicable for any global environment.

·        Extend the applicable biological categories

At the very first lounging level we consider only the bio diversity of amphibians. But we hope to extend it for any type of living species. 


At the very first lounging level we consider only the bio diversity of amphibians. But we hope to extend it for any type of living species. 

Project Demo
  • Check the prototype here.
  • Resources are also found at our Github page.
  • Our original presentation is here.

Data & Resources

NASA and other resources

https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/collection-details?projectId=1315425886

https://e4ftl01.cr.usgs.gov/ASTT/AST_L1T.003/2008.07.17/AST_L1T_00307172008185216_20150524180249_98171.hdf

https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/tools/data-pool/#resources

https://vis.globe.gov/GLOBE/

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&ll=6.42760001310444%2C80.47309800000001&mid=11Kpp6M5i64vZx7zTR-jIMVXm9-A&z=11

http://www.maphill.com/search/sinharaja-rain-forest/detailed-satellite-map/

https://ianlockwood.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/sinharaja-with-planet-dove-2019-ver-ii-mr2.jpg

https://themiracleisland.com/sinharaja-rain-forest.php

Tags
#NASA, #jaxa, #spaceapp, #remotsensing, #Amphibian, #html, #css, #JavaScript, #php
Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Judging process.