OysterCatcherUnimelb

Oyster Catcher GPS Sensor Study

This was the final project for the Spatial Visualization subject I undertook during my masters degree Geographic Information Technologies at the University of Melbourne.

The software was coded with Processing.

IMPORTANT: YOU WILL NEED TO INSTALL PROCESSING AND THEN IMPORT THE “gicentreUtils” LIBRARY TO BE ABLE TO RUN THE PROGRAM.

Here is a more detailed description:

About the Interface

The interface program provides a qualitative assessment tool for multiple variables with geographic coordinates. The objective of this interface is to provide adaptable code which can be applied to various biological research analysis; particularly projects that monitor geographically referenced movements and activities of animal and birds.

The interface offers selection criteria which can identify individual subjects. Selection criteria include seasonal variations, diurnal and nocturnal patterns and the dates of the time period. Visually, this will allow for qualitative data correspondence between subjects (animals) according to activities/behaviors.

The current program is configured for Oystercatcher sensor data collected on the island of Schiermonnikoog, The Netherlands. The interface presents the sensor data with the following conditions:

 Birds
 Activities
 Season (Summer/Winter)
 Date
 Day/ Night

How it works

The code provides a filter of these variable conditions. This allows selection of data variables to be customised. The interface operates with a user friendly menu bar; offering user control to select attributes for analysis. The menu bar is divided according to subject, season, activity and time (day/ night, date). This provides a comparative analysis capability between subjects and their attributes.

Design

The interface is intuitive by its minimal and simplistic aesthetic design. Buttons allow navigation through the data. The use of colour hues and graphics differentiate between characteristics and activities. The layout is partitioned to place emphasis on the map. The menu bar located on the right is evenly spaced with graphics to correlate with button functionality. Title, source and the large scaled national map provide additional context to the data.

Selection of criteria is not restricted to a sequence input, however requires selection of a least 1 subject, i.e. bird. The toggle button on/off graphic provides continuous feedback, indicating that the condition is selected.

The functionality of the Interface is explicit, intuitive and simplistic. It is allows for direct subject comparison according to various time variables, geographic locations and observed activities. The flexibility of the program’s code is designed in a manner to be adaptable to be need of researchers’ analysing sensor data with geographic locations.