OCEARCH Shark Tracker
MONITORING MOVEMENT
Creating the world's largest online shark tracking system
The US NGO OCEARCH specializes in real-time tracking and visualization of the movement of sharks and other marine animals. The organization was facing new challenges – the unification of the surveillance system and making oceanic data effectively available to scientific teams and the general public. Learn how Mapotic has created an online service and a mobile app that supports activities to maintain the ocean’s balance and reduce the impact of climate change.
ABOUT THIS CLIENT
OCEARCH is a scientific organization that collects data on the movement of marine animals. It provides data to laboratories and universities around the world, but also makes them available to the public, which helps to spread the organization’s mission and allows the users to interact.
The objective of the project: Creating a new platform for tracking sharks in oceans all over the world
In 2019, OCEARCH contacted us with a plan to rebuild the organization’s original app: “Shark Tracker” as it had started showing its limits. In the case of tracking the movement of marine animals, which can be found even in the most remote places of our planet, it was essential to use technology capable of collecting data from devices located on individual animals.
It was also necessary to unify the flow from satellites and other data sources in order to process and utilize them effectively. Not only for scientific purposes, but also as a tool for communicating with fans around the world and for spreading awareness and media coverage of the impact. This was related to the design and implementation of a user-friendly mobile application supporting user interaction with OCEARCH researchers and also with each other.
The challenges we faced while working on the OCEARCH project:
Motion monitoring in remote areas with no signal
Migration from the original fragmented system
Processing and unification of various geolocation data sources
Sudden power peaks on the web and mobile app
UX friendly mobile app for hundreds of thousands of users
View many routes at once
Implementation: Online service and mobile application with a new generation of satellite telemetry.
We embarked on the creation of an online service and mobile application that would bring an innovative generation of telemetry to the remote wildlife tracking industry.
“Our mission is to contribute to ocean balance by sharing previously unattainable data. Our key partner Mapotic allows us to do so thanks to its high end technology and development.”
Chris Fisher, founder of OCEARCH
The result: A flexible tool for promotion and support
After the launch of the new generation of the Shark tracker, the project was also noticed by a number of media outlets, ranging from Fox News TV and USA today to Forbes (Czech Republic). Thus, the organization has acquired not only efficient technology, but also a tool to promote the impact of its activities and spread public awareness to support research in the world’s oceans.
Platform benefits
What choosing Mapotic brings you
Simplicity
No GIS knowledge or data expertise required to build amazing apps or create free custom maps
User engagement
Unlike existing mapping platforms, Mapotic focuses on end user target audience
Data aggregation
Merging various data sources into one attractive and easy-to-understand output
Integration
Built with integration and synchronization to existing systems and products in mind
Unique content
Mapotic can offer hundreds of thousands of location data points
Mobile apps
Besides web outputs, clients can easily build their own branded maps mobile app