SPOTTERON Citizen Science Blog

MAKENYA Mammal Atlas Kenya - A new Citizen Science App on the SPOTTERON platform

Wednesday, 03 March 2021 15:25
MAKENYA Mammal Atlas Kenya - A new Citizen Science App on the SPOTTERON platform

The MAKENYA - Mammal Atlas Kenya project is a Kenyan Citizen Science App to monitor rare and common mammals. Together with scientists of the Zoology Department of Kenya's National Museums, we developed and designed the first mobile Application for an African country running on the SPOTTERON Platform.

Kenya is one of the most important countries in Africa when it comes to the conservation of biodiversity (plants, animals). The country has an extensive network of protected areas, including parks, reserves and forests, private and community sanctuaries, and still some remaining natural areas which still support wild animals. About 390 mammal species occur in Kenya. The distribution of these species in Kenya is not well known by now. Therefore the MAKENYA project aims to involve citizens and scientists by encouraging them to contribute observations. The MAKENYA Mammal Atlas is the first Citizen Science Project of this kind in Kenya. It enables researchers through crowd-based data to produce a distribution map of different mammal species all across the country.

Anybody can be a naturalist - a citizen science app to monitor Kenyan mammals

Makenya Screens Collection SPOTTERON Citizen Science

Anybody with a passion for nature/mammals can be a naturalist. That passion can be manifested in keenness in observations, photography, and documentation of mammals, all of which can contribute vital information for understanding mammals' natural world. In July 2020, Kenya had a population of more than 50 million.
Each year, visitors from abroad come to Kenya on vacations to explore its fascinating wildlife and nature. For example, in 2019 alone, more than 2 million people toured Kenya. Harnessing the power of technology - especially the mobile-based Citizen Science monitoring of mammals - can contribute essential data to understand the distribution of Kenyan mammals. Since mammals occur everywhere - in the air, on land, in water, and underground, in and outside protected areas - any record of mammal species submitted is useful data that can help save that species in the long run.

You can find the MAKENYA App here:

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotteron.makenya
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/makenya-spotteron/id1556701011
Web-App for the browser: https://www.spotteron.com/makenya

Live Citizen Science Map Application of MAKENYA

 

Get more free Citizen Science Apps here

 

View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.spotteron.net/about/testimonials/makenya-mammal-atlas-kenya-a-new-citizen-science-app-on-the-spotteron-platform#sigProId104170f91a
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  • ”
    Our collaboration with SPOTTERON has been essential for our citizen science project. The ideas of our research have been efficiently implemented into the app in a simple and didactic way, thanks to the good communication and professionalism of the team.
    Sara Blanco Ramirez, PhD student, Hydrology and Climate
  • ”
    Mammals Atlas Kenya (MAKENYA), an operational mobile application to submit mammal sightings by citizens was launched in January 2021. I found the SPOTTERON team very magnanimous, highly professional, meticulous and committed to their work; and definitely I recommend the team to anyone interested in citizen science applications worldwide.
    Simon Musila, Mammalogy Section, National Museums of Kenya
  • ”

    Working with SPOTTERON for our citizen science app was the best decision our team could have made! Philipp and his team led us through the design process and helped us translate our ideas into reality. As US clients, we were surprised that there was no lag in communication due to the time difference where the SPOTTERON team works. I am convinced they work around the clock! They always responded quickly to our emails and scheduled calls to meet our schedule. I highly recommend working with SPOTTERON if you are designing a citizen science app.

    Jules Bruck, University of Delaware
  • ”

    Choosing SPOTTERON for our CrowdWater project was the best decision we could have made for developing the app. Excellent implementation of our (sometimes not entirely thought through) ideas, competent advice, and a fair business model - working with SPOTTERON is a major factor why CrowdWater is working so well.

    Prof. Jan Seibert, Department of Geography Hydrology and Climate, University of Zurich
  • ”

    SPOTTERON has enabled Tea Bag Index to widen our citizen scientist engagement methods and helped us to come up with ideas on how to bring soils closer to the public. It is a pleasure to work with a company who wants to create a platform that is a communication possibility for everybody involved in the project!

    Dr. Taru Sandén, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety - AGES
  • ”

    Working together with Spotteron has been a smooth and fast way to get our Citizen Science project started! Their impressive experience in app building as well as in communication with citizens has proven to be invaluable and complements nicely with a team of scientists taking their first steps in citizen science!

    Bram Vanthournout, Ghent University
  • ”

    GLOBAL 2000 has been working closely with Spotteron for more than 3 years. Together we have started the DreckSpotz app and are constantly developing it. The SPOTTERON team is not only incredibly competent, but above all very flexible and uncomplicated. That's why we feel extremely well looked after as an environmental organization and NGO.

    Johannes Frauscher, GLOBAL 2000, Friends of Earth Austria
  • ”

    The decision to use the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform for our participatory project can be summarized best in this way: it was possible in a short time to create a well-working and user-friendly Citizen Science app for our research. The positive feedback on our project "Landauf - LandApp" shows that involving citizens in a scientific project can be a lot of fun when using the right tool.

    Daniel Fähle, National Archive Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • ”

    The app developed by SPOTTERON is an ideal extension to our established methods and strengthens the inclusion of Citizen Scientists. The design and intuitive usability relate also to a young audience. Especially the community features make a direct feedback possible and it is especially motivating that the SPOTTERON team themselves are actively contributing in the app - a win-win situation for everyone.

    Irmgard Greilhuber, Mycological Society Austria, University of Vienna
  • ”Working with SPOTTERON to design the app was an interesting experience for me. As an ecology PhD student, I knew how to catch Brush-turkeys and design experiments to learn about their behaviour. I knew next to nothing about how to engage with the broader community at large. SPOTTERONS’s expertise was invaluable here, they have experience in designing apps that people want to use, and balance detail with ease of function.
    Matthew Hall, University of Sydney
  • ”
    I've worked with loads of app developers over my career, but none so high quality as SPOTTERON. Their capabilities are astounding. They are incredibly innovative, creative and agile with a keen sense of humour and lightness. SPOTTERON apps are the benchmark of how to do citizen science well. They are elevating our ability to engage with the natural world in a meaningful way.
    Jen Sutfin, EarthWatch Australia
  • ”

    SPOTTERON brings a lot of passion and lots of expertise in the field of Citizen Science to the table, to present projects - not only in technical terms - in the right light. The websites for both schweiz-forscht.ch and ecsa-conference.eu are based on good and easy cooperation with our Austrian partners.

    Yasemin Tutav, Science et Cité
  • ”

    I’m amazed by SPOTTERON's passion for CitizenScience, impressed by their energy and initiatives and grateful for what I’ve learned by collaborating with them on the Fjällkalendern app.

    Kjell Bolmgren, University of Stockholm
  • ”

    As a scientist, collaborating with SPOTTERON to create our Citizen Science App ‘Fågelbär’ was the right choice. We could focus on what type of data we want to collect and the team at SPOTTERON designed, built and are now running the App!

    Matilda Arnell, University of Stockholm
  • ”

    With our SPOTTERON App Nature's Calendar ZAMG we are always technically up-to-date. As a result we are able to offer our Citizen Scientists a tool which is also appealing to today's generation without having to worry about any technical questions.

    Thomas Hübner, Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik ZAMG
  • ”

    Working with SPOTTERON implies working with a professional partner on the topics of Apps & Citizen Science. I was always very pleased about the reliability, but also the openness to try new things and the possibility to exchange with competent partners. Thanks!

    Dr. Dott. Didone Frigerio, University of Vienna, KLF Grünau/Almtal
  • ”

    With our project Roadkill, we were on the SPOTTERON platform since its beginnings, this way we got to witness the great development of this tool first-hand and were able to contribute in the shaping process. SPOTTERON manages the fine balance between scientific research, community management and modern design. The personal collaboration on a professional level supports the comfortable atmosphere in the project.

    Florian Heigl PhD, University of Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna
  • ”

    If you are looking for a dedicated team for the development of a Citizen Science App - even if that has to happen quite fast- you are in good hands at SPOTTERON. Fast communication, straightforward coordination and running updates of the app, even after the release, characterize our successful collaboration.

    Magdalena Gärtner, Center for Human-Computer Interaction, University of Salzburg
  • ”

    Through the SPOTTERON App "Was geht ab?" we were able to create an appealing and useful possibility for kids, to spot problem- and feel-good areas in their home- and school surroundings. In the SPOTTERON team we found reliable and creative partners, that care about more than just the implementation. 

    Juliane Stark, University of Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna
  • ”

    Thanks to the experience and the knowhow as well as the basic structure of SPOTTERON, we were able to have the CrowdWater apps developed in no time. We consider the model that allows every project to use all newly developed tools very fair and transparent. This way our apps even got some new features, we didn't even know we needed before.

    Simon Etter, University of Zurich
  • ”

    Through SPOTTERON we share more than just an app infrastructure with other projects, we also share ideas. This way we get to develop and constantly improve user-friendly apps, which are easy to handle and work for many different kinds of projects.

    Barbara Strobl, University of Zurich
  • ”

    To me, SPOTTERON is the successful combination of scientific claim and aesthetic design. The apps work intuitively, are extremely appealing and still fulfill all my scientific requirements when it comes to data quality and safety. Working together happens in a very loyal and trusting way and that allows us to profit from the design- and usability experience SPOTTERON has.

    Daniel Dörler, University of Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna
  • ”

    What I especially like about SPOTTERON, is that we get to use many ideas and new tools that were developed for other projects in the SPOTTERON family without having to pay for them..

    Klaus Wanninger, Lacon
Read more about how the SPOTTERON platform works..

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    A new paper titled "Citizen Science Approaches for Water Quality Measurements" has been published by the scientists behind CrowdWater. Find it in the papers section!

    in Shortnews
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    A new paper from the Horizon 2020 project IPM titled "Genetic variability of Metarhizium isolates from the Ticino Valley Natural Park (Northern Italy) as a possible microbiological resource for the management of Popillia japonica" has been added to our page. Find this and other Citizen Science related publications on the SPOTTERON Papers & Publications section.

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