219
contains approximately 186 million records from real-time biotelemetry sensors
and is used to date by 38 user groups from eight countries, monitoring more than 24
species and 2892 individual animals (www.slu.se/wram). One recent user is the
Sami Parliament, who decided to use WRAM for handling biotelemetry data collected from reindeer in Sweden.
Geodata and Their Integration with Tracking Data
In Sweden, most geodata are easily available to anyone who wants to use them.
These open geodata may be accessed, used and published free of charge and they
are available in a machine-readable interface. Lantmäteriet (www.lantmateriet.se),
the National Land Survey of Sweden, carries out aerial photography and airborne
laser scanning as well as land surveys. They also ensure that companies, authorities
and the public have access to the information, e.g. in the form of maps and images.
When it comes to carnivore monitoring, useful information on e.g. topography,
elevation and vegetation cover can be downloaded from their site (Lantmäteriet 2017).
The satellite database Saccess contains satellite images of Sweden that cover
every decade from the 1970s onwards, and every year since 2007. The nationwide
data sets consist of optical multispectral data from satellites with a spatial resolution
of 10–30 m (except MSS data from 1970 that have 80-meter resolution). The information is easily accessible via the Internet and is available free of charge, due to
special government funding. Different satellites and different sensors have been
used through the decades. For 2015 e.g., satellite information is available based on
IRS-P6 (© ANTRIX, SI, Euromap Neustrelitz) and Landsat 8 (USGS/NASA Landsat,
Processing Metria AB) (Lantmäteriet 2017).
Users of Rovbase usually do not have to care very much about geodata, as these
are automatically included when maps are produced. The database contains cached
maps (images) that are activated depending on the level of zooming. These images
are supplied by Metria (www.metria.se) and they build on vector-data from
Lantmäteriet, who also deliver the Swedish aerial photographs that are available in
Rovbase. The map of Scandinavia in Rovbase is delivered by Statens Kartverk
(www.statenskartverk.no), the Norwegian Mapping Authority, which also supplies
maps and aerial photos for Norwegian users.
The Wireless Remote Animal Monitoring (WRAM) database e-infrastructure
includes a web portal which can be used to select, visualize, and access raw data,
together with simple spatial analysis tools and statistical tools. Currently, this portal
uses geodata information from Lantmäteriet for its background maps, as e.g. in
Vargwebben, but a transition to Google Maps is currently contemplated. In many
cases, users of WRAM will apply their own GIS-solution within their research projects for further analyses. How an integration of GPS tracking data and remotely
acquired environmental data can be accomplished in order to look at habitat usage,
has been presented by e.g. Rauset et al. (2012) for lynx and wolverine and by
Nellemann et al. (2007) for brown bears.
A Toolbox for Remotely Monitoring Large Carnivores in Sweden
contains approximately 186 million records from real-time biotelemetry sensors
and is used to date by 38 user groups from eight countries, monitoring more than 24
species and 2892 individual animals (www.slu.se/wram). One recent user is the
Sami Parliament, who decided to use WRAM for handling biotelemetry data collected from reindeer in Sweden.
Geodata and Their Integration with Tracking Data
In Sweden, most geodata are easily available to anyone who wants to use them.
These open geodata may be accessed, used and published free of charge and they
are available in a machine-readable interface. Lantmäteriet (www.lantmateriet.se),
the National Land Survey of Sweden, carries out aerial photography and airborne
laser scanning as well as land surveys. They also ensure that companies, authorities
and the public have access to the information, e.g. in the form of maps and images.
When it comes to carnivore monitoring, useful information on e.g. topography,
elevation and vegetation cover can be downloaded from their site (Lantmäteriet 2017).
The satellite database Saccess contains satellite images of Sweden that cover
every decade from the 1970s onwards, and every year since 2007. The nationwide
data sets consist of optical multispectral data from satellites with a spatial resolution
of 10–30 m (except MSS data from 1970 that have 80-meter resolution). The information is easily accessible via the Internet and is available free of charge, due to
special government funding. Different satellites and different sensors have been
used through the decades. For 2015 e.g., satellite information is available based on
IRS-P6 (© ANTRIX, SI, Euromap Neustrelitz) and Landsat 8 (USGS/NASA Landsat,
Processing Metria AB) (Lantmäteriet 2017).
Users of Rovbase usually do not have to care very much about geodata, as these
are automatically included when maps are produced. The database contains cached
maps (images) that are activated depending on the level of zooming. These images
are supplied by Metria (www.metria.se) and they build on vector-data from
Lantmäteriet, who also deliver the Swedish aerial photographs that are available in
Rovbase. The map of Scandinavia in Rovbase is delivered by Statens Kartverk
(www.statenskartverk.no), the Norwegian Mapping Authority, which also supplies
maps and aerial photos for Norwegian users.
The Wireless Remote Animal Monitoring (WRAM) database e-infrastructure
includes a web portal which can be used to select, visualize, and access raw data,
together with simple spatial analysis tools and statistical tools. Currently, this portal
uses geodata information from Lantmäteriet for its background maps, as e.g. in
Vargwebben, but a transition to Google Maps is currently contemplated. In many
cases, users of WRAM will apply their own GIS-solution within their research projects for further analyses. How an integration of GPS tracking data and remotely
acquired environmental data can be accomplished in order to look at habitat usage,
has been presented by e.g. Rauset et al. (2012) for lynx and wolverine and by
Nellemann et al. (2007) for brown bears.
A Toolbox for Remotely Monitoring Large Carnivores in Sweden