Web application and database for global collection and formatting, processing, and display of marine megafauna movement data

Marine megafauna, such as whales, sharks, turtles and seals, can move thousands of kilometers in the ocean. Because these animals spend most of their lives underwater, we still have a limited understanding of movement patterns. Recent technological developments have allowed collation of tracking data through the use of tags that, after being attached to the animals, can collect, store and transmit the locations the animals visit. These data, collected worldwide by many different teams of scientists, are extremely important to understand animals global distribution and assess the global impacts of industrial developments (e.g., shipping, fishing).

This project will focus on the development of an online system where researchers from around the world can provide their data and on creating a mechanism to validate entries, format input data, implement automation of series of pre-defined processing steps, display data on demand, and serve data on request. The database will need to include privacy settings and the use of passwords for data access after permission is granted. The development of the proposed mechanism will include three steps:

  1. Creation of a web-application allowing interactive population of data fields (e.g., through upload of csv files) and including a validation procedure to check content. This step should allow interactive feedback from data providers, and the creation of unique IDs.
  2. Implementation of pre-existing code (written in R language) to process the data uploaded in step 1 into different products. Implementation will need to consider the potential need to update pre-existing code. Each of the data products created in this step needs to be prepared for online visualization and download upon request from users (after permission for access is granted to the users).
  3. Implementation of a system to (i) allow direct contact between users and data providers to confirm permission to use data, and to store (ii) contact data from users requesting data access as well as (iii) the objectives for the use of data.

The contents of steps 1 and 2 will be part of a global database compatible with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). All terms and vocabularies to use are pre-specified and will be provided.

Client


Contact: Ana Sequeira
Phone: 0864882219
Email: [email protected]
Preferred contact: Email
Location: Oceans Institute

IP Exploitation Model


The IP exploitation model requested by the Client is that all IP of the mechanism proposed here to be assigned to the project proposer, but a Creative Commons can be assigned to the web application to be developed (i.e., implementation of the mechanism proposed).


Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering
The University of Western Australia
Last modified: 21 July 2020
Modified By: Michael Wise 		UWA