BirdLife International, one of the largest global conservation organisations, uses complex biodiversity data to plan conservation projects, research and policy. 

 

We built the new Seabird Tracking Database, a collaborative database of thousands of individual biologging projects each with tracking data for one or several species. 

 

This data was normalised, indexed for a search system and plotted on interactive maps which can be compared to each other.  Data can be searched with custom shape uploads, drawing on a map or searching for ready made political boundaries. The database includes a data upload tool and an access request system to allow scientists to restrict or allow others access to their data.

 

Strategy
 

The key issues were the scope of the project (thousands of datasets with millions of points) and the security around sensitive dataset sharing.

 

We tried many technologies including static files and MongoDB before settling on a combination of self hosted geojson files, PostGIS and a custom tile making system using the tippecanoe tile generation library.

 

We built a system of users, ownership, co-ownership around datasets and different access types (limited zoom, no map at all, no individual track separation). Scientists can use the system to make data requests (giving reasons) and those scientists can approve, deny or revoke access, getting notifications and dashboards to manage these requests.
 

Explore the Seabird Tracking Database

Tech Stack
 

This project uses: