Cutting Edge Imaging Technology: GigaPan! GigaWhat? GigaWho?

Over the last few months I've been researching this fascinating new technology that has recently been implemented into jaguar conservation efforts. Here is an adaptation from a paper I recently wrote for my "Biology in the Age of Technology" course regarding the GigaPan and how conservationists are using it in borderland jaguar conservation...

Gigapan Overview

Originally used in Mars exploration (Frenkel, 2010), the GigaPan system was created through a collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, Charmed Labs, LLC, and NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group with support from Google (Nichols, Ruyle, & Nourbaksh, 2009). The basics of using GigaPan technology are relatively simple and can be utilized by a wide-range of users. The GigaPan robot holds a commercial-level digital camera on top of a tripod and once it’s programmed, it automatically takes hundreds to thousands of photos, depending on the size of the panorama wished to be captured (Wu, 2008). Programming entails setting the boundaries of the panorama by pointing the camera at the top left and bottom right corners of the scene, and checking a few camera settings such as available storage (Wu, 2008). The GigaPan automatically takes the required number of pictures by using a lever to manually engage the camera’s button (Wu, 2008).

Software created specifically for the GigaPan takes the captured photos and pieces them together into one cohesive image (Wu, 2008). The result is a high-gigapixel panorama. Previous panoramas that captured entire landscapes were limited to low-resolution settings (Nichols et al., 2009) where the GigaPan allows for resolutions up to a thousand times greater than that of HDTV (Frenkel, 2010). These highly-detailed panoramas provide the opportunity to interact with the image, allowing users to zoom in and out of the scene while retaining high resolution and full-clarity (Nichols et al., 2009). Data such as identifying a single beetle on a leaf or noting a distant geological feature can be seen and recorded with ease. However, the most important feature is being able to understand this data within the context of the surrounding landscape (Nichols et al., 2009).

Currently the only limiting factor with the GigaPan is the digital camera that is used. The better the zoom capability and camera quality in general, the more detail the resulting panorama will contain. Currently, GigaPan can only hold “consumer-level, point-and-shoot cameras” (Wu, 2008). This is beneficial because it makes the technology available and usable by a wide-variety of people including both the public and scientific community. Future improvements of this technology that would allow more advanced cameras would undoubtedly create even higher quality images.

GigaPan Website

The high-resolution panoramas that are created by the GigaPan system are generally too large for most personal computers to handle and so the GigaPan server system and website were created (Frenkel, 2010). The website allows users to upload their panoramas to be shared with the world. Visitors can navigate each panorama, noting interesting frames and zooming in and out to discover different levels of interest (Wu, 2008).  As of 2010, the site contained 40,000 public panoramas and another 20,000 private photos being worked on by GigaPan technicians (Frenkel, 2010).

Gigapan and Jaguar Conservation

The GigaPan was quickly identified as a useful tool for jaguar conservation by the Defenders of Wildlife, an organization “dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities” (Defenders of Wildlife, 2013, para. 1). Their Southwest Representative, Craig Miller, began using the GigaPan technology primarily to monitor the landscape of the borderlands to gauge the suitability of jaguar habitat and see where improvements could be made (check out his amazing photos here). The GigaPan is now being used to measure changes in vegetative groundcover, effects of unmanaged grazing livestock such as terracing and erosion, and the impacts that removing livestock in recent years has made (Defenders of Wildlife, 2014). After completing a few initial studies, Defenders of Wildlife brought this technology to the Northern Jaguar Project (NJP) and trained the organization to utilize it at the Northern Jaguar Reserve.

Defenders of Wildlife and NJP are primarily using the GigaPan to inform decisions regarding management of the reserve (Defenders of Wildlife, 2014). Using several panoramas of the same landscape taken over different months or years, allows the NJP to document any changes in invasive species such as buffelgrass, and how land-management strategies such as removing these invasives and placing mini-dams to reduce erosion and runoff are working (Defenders of Wildlife, 2014). According to Miller, GigaPan images have revealed “tremendous rebound in ground cover, grasses, and native shrubs” after livestock were removed from the area in 2008 (Defenders of Wildlife, 2014). Monitoring these rangelands provides the information needed to understand and quantify any impacts of additional stressors such as climate, population changes, and possible development (Nichols et al., 2009). The ability to compare GigaPans from month to month or year to year further helps management understand how the landscape is changing, where it can be improved, and how suitable it is to the local jaguar population. Craig Miller states “GigaPan helps us detect, monitor and report changes, which helps guide our conservation activities” (Defenders of Wildlife, 2014, para. 11). The technology also informs managers if conservation objectives are being met in these landscapes (Nichols et al., 2009).

Another useful application of the GigaPan is monitoring wildlife corridors along the United States-Mexico border. Information such as border infrastructure and project development over time can be revealed (Defenders of Wildlife, 2014). This border fence between the two countries is a major threat to large species as it prevents wildlife from moving in and out of the United States and Mexico. As there are no known breeding populations in the United States, the individuals living in Arizona and New Mexico depend on the Mexican population for reproduction (McCain & Childs, 2008). In future years, protected habitat in the United States may be the only suitable and safe place for the Mexican population to travel. Promoting connectivity between the two countries is essential in the health of the entire borderland population.   

According to the Defenders of Wildlife (2014, para. 10), one of the most important aspects of GigaPan is the ability to “convey the importance of changes in the landscape to a wide audience, an audience that doesn’t have to be made up of trained scientists.” With the GigaPan website users have the ability to explore these images and make any notes on interesting or useful frames they find, and this capability fosters a certain connection between scientists and the public. This could potentially be developed into a jaguar citizen science project. The Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center’s High Country citizen science program is currently using GigaPan technology in conjunction with ground-studies to monitor mountain goat populations in Glacier National Park (Crown Science, n.d.; GigaPan, 2013). Craig Miller hopes to use the borderland images he has taken to capture the imagination and attention of wildlife supporters and further hopes to use these images to garner support for jaguar habitat conservation. These images along with those of camera-traps and video recordings prove that the jaguar is using the landscape in the northernmost part of its range: the borderlands.

Sorry if that was long! There's just so much information about these GigaPans and their potential to assist in wildlife conservation. I've been playing around with the photos on Gigapan's website and it's just a little too much fun! This particular GigaPan absolutely blows my mind. I encourage you to explore for yourself the fascinating functionality the GigaPan has to offer! 

What are your thoughts regarding this imaging technology? Do you know of any GigaPan projects in your area? Or any projects where the GigaPan might be useful?

References:

Crown Science (n.d.). Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center : High country citizen science project in Glacier National Park. Retrieved from http://www.crownscience.org/getinvolved/citizen-science/high-country

Defenders of Wildlife (2013). Mission and Values. Retrieved from http://www.defenders.org/

Defenders of Wildlife (2014, January 9). The Big Picture, In Stunning Detail: How new imaging technology aids wildlife conservation. Retrieved from http://www.defendersblog.org/2014/01/big-picture-stunning-detail-new-imaging-technology-aids-wildlife-conservation/

Frenkel, K. A. (2010). Panning for Science. Science, 330(6005), 748-749.

GigaPan (2013). Retrieved from http://gigapan.com/

McCain, E. B., & Childs, J. L. (2008). Evidence of Resident Jaguars (Panthera onca) in the Southwestern United States and the Implications for Conservation. Journal Of Mammalogy, (1), 1. doi:10.1644/07-MAMM-F-268.1

Nichols, M., Ruyle, G., & Nourbakhsh, I. (2009). Very-High-Resolution Panoramic Photography to Improve Conventional Rangeland Monitoring. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 62(6), 579-582.

Wu, C. (2008). Robotic Photographers. IEEE Spectrum, 45(3), 23.