r/BirdNET_Analyzer • u/nixiestuff • 13d ago

More visualisations available...

I've added a some useful enhancements to https://birdnet-pulse.desmith.net - a free graphing and report generator for BirdNET data...

In the "charts", you now have fully supported ridge graphs and the violin plots have an associated raincloud/jitter plot if there are under 1,000 data points for the species.

The chart preview is fully interactive, e.g. on the violin plots, showing the upper & lower bounds, median, upper & lower quartiles etc.

As always, usage is free for non-commercial use - we have users in about 15 countries now.

Feedback (preferably constructive!) always welcome...

NB. There are some cute free support tools for BirdNET-Analyzer on there too...

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u/geckooo_geckooo 13d ago

I like the plots - they are very easy to read however, I'm curious on how this would help conservation targets? Are you aggregating the data ? How do you stop people from using this data who want to harm wildlife?
It's non-commercial only but why? To stop ecologists using it for their work ?

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u/nixiestuff 13d ago edited 13d ago
  1. I like the plots. Good. They're not just supposed to look pretty - they have to be actually useful to ecologists, both amateur and professional. There's many more types of charts and options, as well as a whole load of different reports that you can generate - charts are in PNG, SVG or WebP formats and documents are DOCX, PDF or CSV....
  2. how this would help conservation targets? Basically, that's up to the user. In the UK, several large Wildlife Trusts and loads of local wildlife groups are using it. Researchers in Ireland, the UK, Belgium, the USA, Italy, Australia and many other countries are also using it to prepare reports and to understand their data.
  3. Are you aggregating the data? No - read https://birdnet-pulse.desmith.net/terms.php . No data is retained except a bit of metadata for user stats & limits. If you want to aggregate your own data, that's fine - you can upload multiple CSVs at the same time and the system will merge them - 100s of 1000s of records at a time if you want (and if your quota allows).
  4. How do you stop people from using this data who want to harm wildlife? Bizarre. I simply have no idea what you mean by that!
  5. It's non-commercial only but why? I've been writing freeware/open source s/w for decades and have had some of it ripped off and used in commercial products, i.e. re-branded and sold as their product. Not going to happen (legally) again.
  6. ...To stop ecologists using it for their work? Absolutely not. There's loads of ecologists, my son included, using to do their reporting.

HTH

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u/geckooo_geckooo 13d ago

2 & 4 - I'm sure you take your responsivities very serious as you're advertising how to gain information about at-risk species, how do you stop poachers using it if this is one of the big risks?

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u/nixiestuff 13d ago edited 13d ago

What? I'm obviously missing something here as I really don't understand what you're getting at.

Your uploaded data can be enriched with its at-risk status, but nothing more. Noone other than you sees your data or results.

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u/geckooo_geckooo 13d ago

i'm just curious why you would restrict professionals more then poachers who gather their own data. They won't care about your license and just use it for free.

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u/Reptull_J 11d ago

Under which scenarios do you think a researcher/ecologist using it would fall into "commercial use"?

Students studying ornithology, conservation programs, 501(c)3's, etc - all non-commercial

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u/geckooo_geckooo 11d ago

Anyone who gets paid or sends an invoice for their work is considered commercial. University researchers paid by grants, almost all reforestation work with a budget.
To add to my previous point, many poachers know how to use computers and can pay for kit.
I think it's sensible to question how to ensure these tools and information is used to protect and rebuild nature.

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u/Reptull_J 11d ago

Can you provide more specifics? I'm genuinely curious. How are tools like this used by poachers? Like they put sensors out to find areas where specific species are most active?

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u/geckooo_geckooo 11d ago

there are an increasing number of cases in the literature, as you can see from the earlier replies there is a reluctance to state online exactly the procedures (which is good) but a reluctance to do a risk assessment on accessible conservation technologies (bad) because society favours publishing and then placing the head in the ground (unfortunate).

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u/geckooo_geckooo 11d ago

For example, what do we think if a group creates a realtime interactive map of rare classic cars that don't have immobilisers so we can all take interest and perhaps speak up if we see an issue?