Crowdsourcing Spatial Data Collection of Fish Barriers Across Multiple Watersheds Using Mobile Platforms and Partnerships: If You Build It, Will They Come?

Spatial data technology is moving quickly into the online and mobile world.  Yet most data collection and management is done with paper datasheets and local databases in the conservation community. Biologists are willing to collect new data that is standardized and contributes to larger efforts.  They simply need a platform by which to do this.  Using existing infrastructure, license agreements with ArcGIS Online, and capacity, we can collect, edit, and share fish barrier data across the Tennessee and Cumberland river basins more effectivity and efficiently.  ArcGIS Online is easy to set up by the data manager.  It also integrates with ESRI’s Collector app to provide a tool that is accessible and easy to use by the data collector.  We can quickly add capacity without the cost of dedicated resources by training biologists who are already in the field.  The resulting product is a spatial database that can be maintained in real time by multiple partners at a low-cost.    During this session, we will share lessons learned from this approach.