Tool Type: mobile apps
Standalone mobile applications designed for data collection, reporting, or field monitoring, often used by rangers, researchers, or the public.
XYLOTRON
A complete, self-contained, multi-illumination, field-deployable, open-source platform for field imaging and identification of forest products at the macroscopic scale. The XyloTron platform integrates an imaging system build with off-the-shelf components, flexible illumination options with visible and UV light sources, software for camera control, and deep learning models for identification.
Wildlife Sentinel
Wildlife Sentinel is an app to help staff at airports, airlines, and other aviation companies report suspected wildlife trafficking and corruption. The app is anonymous and is available for download on the Apple Store and Google Play Store.
Wildlife Witness
Wildlife Witness lets you report illegal trade. It makes it simple for you to watch out for wildlife and be part of the solution. It is the first global community action tool to tackle illegal trade and gives you the power to make a positive difference. With the app you can report wildlife you see caught in trade, see reports you’ve made on a global map, learn about wildlife affected by trade, and learn what to look out for.
iNaturalist
Assists with general species identification. Every observation can contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed. The app shares community findings with scientific data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to help scientists find and use community data.
TreeTAG
Smartphone-based supply chain traceability system developed by TreeTAG Technologies, Inc that tracks the location of logs transported from the forest to the mill. It was piloted in Guatemala and is since no longer active or available for use.
Wildlife Alert
Wildlife Alert was designed for military personnel, who often purchase wildlife products as souvenirs, to determine if a products made from a protected species. Both the United States Department of Defence and Wildlife Conservation Society agreed to make the app available to the public in an effort to better combat illegal trade, particularly in Afghanistan. The app’s database allows for over 75 species to be identified, including all species of cat from around the world. Despite its ease of use, it doesn’t allow users to report the vendor. It does, however, inform and raise awareness of the types of items that could potentially be confiscated.
Wildlife Guardian
China-based technology to confirm species identity through a series of questions. It takes an extra step to outsource initially unidentifiable items to external scientists. If the product is identified as illegal by the user or external scientists, steps are taken to track down the product and trader/trafficker. The app was specifically developed to support forest police, customs officers, and others in the field to address trafficking across China.
Wildscan
App to combat illegal wildlife trade across Asia and West Africa. It was designed to help frontline enforcement agencies, private sector employees, and the general public correctly identify, report, and handle animals and plants frequently caught in the illegal wildlife trade. WildScan hosts a comprehensive library containing information on over 600 endangered species and illegal wildlife products. The app’s identification wizard component poses four simple questions to assist users in identifying the appropriate species. It is expanding to be used globally.
SCAT
Software for “smoothed and continuous assignment tests” that combines genetic and statistical methods to determine the origin of poached ivory. The methods estimate geographic-specific allele frequencies over the entire African elephants’ range. These geographic-specific allele frequency estimates are used to infer the geographic origin of DNA samples.