Frequently Asked Questions

Thank you for your interest in the WildObs project. Please see below some frequently asked questions. Don't hesitate to contact us with any other questions. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• How and why should I use camera traps to study wildlife?
• When can I start using WildObs to process my camera trap images/videos?
• How can I share my pre-processed camera trap data with WildObs? 
• How can I access published camera trap data?
• Where will WildObs data be published?

How and why should I use camera traps to study wildlife?

Camera traps can be used to conduct a wide range of wildlife-related analysis, such as:

• tracking marked individuals across an ecosystem, 
• determining habitat associations between species and elements of their ecosystem, and;
• measuring the effectiveness of conservation actions. 

A wide range of deployment strategies can be employed when using camera traps to target specific communities, such as arboreal mammals or arid desert reptiles.

If you are getting started for your first camera trap survey and not sure where to start, we recommend the Ecological Field Monitoring Protocols Camera Trapping Module issued by Ecological Monitoring System Australia (EMSA). The protocols described are suitable for the vast majority of terrestrial faunal monitoring across Australia. 

When can I start using WildObs to process my camera trap images/videos?

WildObs is developing an image management platform in collaboration with Agouti to host Australian-centric computer vision models that can classify Australian wildlife from images and videos. 

The launch date for the WildObs platform is mid-2026.

If you are interested becoming a beta tester of the platform or being a first user once launched, please register your interest here.

How can I share my pre-processed camera trap data with WildObs? 

If you have legacy camera trap data that has been processed by another method, either manually or by another platform such as Wildlife Insights, the observation data and/or tagged images can be contributed to the WildObs project. 

To contribute observation tabular data, visit the support article on how to submit legacy data. 

To contribute tagged camera trap images for computer vision model training, please get in touch with our team. 

How can I access published camera trap data?

Current WildObs camera trap observation data can be queried and downloaded using the WildObsR package.

A curated selection of tagged camera trapped images along with occurence records is available from the WildObs collection hosted on the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). 

Where will WildObs data be published?

When the platform goes live, public* WildObs data will be published in various locations using different data standards and formats:

• In addition to the WildObsR package, a WildObs online web application will allow users to query camera trapping records and download data in Camtrap DP format.
• Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) will host both occurrence- and event-based data formatted in the international Darwin Core biodiversity data standard. 
  • ALA is the Australian node of the Global Biodiversity Informtion Facility (GBIF), ensuring that Australian data is available globally. WildObs data published to ALA will also be discoverable via Wild Album, the GBIF facility for discovery of camera trap datasets.
• Terrestial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) will host structured survey data on the EcoPlots platform. Data published here will meet the Australian Biodiversity Information Standard (ABIS) to ensure camera trap data is well represented in EcoPlots and included in the Australian Biodiversity Data Repository. 

    *Contact our team for more information on data sharing terms and when information will be made public.