Sensemaking in the Wild: A Review of Practitioner Collected Geospatial Data and its Synthesis within Protected Areas for Poaching Mitigation

Keywords: geospatial data, synthesis, poaching, protected areas, sensors
Abstract Type: Lightning Paper Abstract

Abstract

In recent years there has been a surge of new research focused on poaching in protected areas, but gaps remain that requires investigation. Specifically, we need to better understand the types of geospatial data collected by practitioners and the processes that protected areas currently use to mitigate poaching. As device-based geospatial sensors from platforms such as UAS, camera traps, and acoustic devices are employed in poaching mitigation, it is important to know how these sensors are synthesized with geospatial data that is human-generated. Human-generated data, typically in analog form, may include information on illicit campfires, animal carcasses, and other poaching-related observations. In this presentation I discuss results from a recent survey of protected area practitioners which investigates how protected areas currently synthesize device-based and human-generated geospatial data. Additionally, I characterize how the synthesis of these two types of geospatial data can support improvements to sensor deployment for poaching mitigation within protected areas.