The Quest..A New Direction?

[kraftykarl]

Hi there, I have not posted here in a while. Just been very busy at work and too tired to really participate much. I do get around to reading most of the new postings however.
When I think back a year or two I seem to recall this site as being a lot more "Thylacoleo" orientated. Expeditions seemed to be launched with the main purpose of proving that T.C. still exists.
It appears to me that the site has become a lot more mainstream and orthodox. This switch has produced some great discoveries and generated some genuine recognition from the scientific community.
Am I the only person who has noticed this? Debbie, is this the result of an attempt to gain more credibility ? Please do not take this as criticism. I congratulate you on your achievements but will admit to missing some of the old bias on the site. Regards, Karl.

[Wally1]

Welcone back KK.
No, TC has not been forgotten, just that the BBC (big black cat) has been stealing the limelight.
Also the Quest's photographic efforts have been generating interest.
A new style autocam should give my own efforts a boost.
Regards Wally

[Thylacoleo Gal]

Yes indeed KK - welcome back

Hah, so you noticed QfT's move to the mainstream, hey? Yup, it's coz I think there's such a lot to do v/v conserving our environment and native animals. We have a great technology - errm, IMHO but i'm biased! ;D - that's pretty new and has a long way to go i/t/o development. It's already shown it can turn up uncatalogued animal populations that were invisible to science for 100 years - so let's see what else it can do? I think it'll be good for monitoring feral animals - eg. foxes, feral cats & dogs - and also for surveying animal pops that are threatened by environmental destruction - eg, logging coups?

Of course that doesn't mean we're not on the look out for anything "interesting". Never know ur luck, hey? And don't worry, we hear reports and we know all the hot spots ...

What else? If Questers have ideas, QfT is listening!

Uh, there's one thing that looks like it's definitely on the horizon. Remember the SkySpy project? It's looking more do-able, within a tight budget, all the time. We now have a working prototype - pics on web page soon. No camera or guidance system fitted yet, however. Everything hangs on miniature and cheap motion/direction/position sensors. Check out this amazing 3D motion sensor that NEC-Tokin have on offer. Even has embedded USB --
www.nec-tokin.com/english/product/3d/index.html

Incredible! <shakes head> Not saying we'll use these particular ones, though.

If the SkySpy gets built and it can guide itself to long-range targets and take pics from say 50m in the air, what apps can Questers dream up for it?

Debbie

[JeffJ]

Hi Debbie-and everyone else. Will the spy-plane have any night flying applications? Might be an idea to fly it over farms and the like in the middle of the night-providing that what it is looking for is nocturnal. Another thought: ever consider the use of a global satillite for any kind of search? I used to play around with global view.com, and amazingly-saw myself standing in my driveway! I guess the images are time delayed from the last pass it took overhead. I looked at Ozenkadnook lately-but now they charge for images-so I couldn't observe too closely. I hear that these places need to be contacted ahead of time-to accurately get a shot or series of shots when it passes over the next time. I think that sometime in the near future-there may be good hunting with this kind of technology. I am going to look into it more-and I will let you know if it is possible. Something else-do you have to recover data from the quest cameras by actually visiting the camera? Is there a way to add a broadcast link or satillite link to it-where the data can be watched or collected without going into the field? JeffJ

[Thylacoleo Gal]

Hi Jeff! Crikey, where u been? i'll have Rilla's critter & all that stuff back on line soon! QfT website is having a re-config @ moment.

Yup, we used 2 use stuff like digital globe - but they all want $$ these days.
www.digitalglobe.com/

So, what it looks like is free = beta testing. Once the bugs are ironed out, then they ask for $$

One of my favs was WebWinds - it's a java package that visualises raw data from satellites. Comes from NASA/Goddard. We were beta testers for it -->

Goddard Space Centre
gcmd.nasa.gov/records/01-WebWinds-00.html

Haven't fiddled with it 4 ages so wouldn't be surprised if they're asking for $$ now. It was good because it had raw IR data that shows u the current vegetation cover - not only whether vegetation is present but also what sort, ie broadleaf vs narrow leaf => water content. There's also u-wave images that show sub-soil features, eg buried structures, river beds and stuff. One prob was the "bird" doesn't pass over Victoria all that often.

Locally, what we tend to want to know is exactly where the boundaries of a block of land are and who owns it & VicMap is handy for that -->

VicMap
services.land.vic.gov.au/landchannel/content/vicmapdata?productID=2

What it looks like right now is, all maps + aerial imaging services are commercial. Which means if u can roll your own, that's the way to go. Hey, if the SkySpies ever fly, maybe the thing to do would be to do regular photo-runs on particular vectors to keep track of "developments"?
D.

[Deleted]

OK here's a challenge for you guys.

You might have had a look at an interesting new report from a certain wellknown mountain range at
uqconnect.net/~zzpclach/bigcatwitnesses.htm

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build and program your skyspy such that whenever it flies over a large feline object sitting in a tree emitting negligible visible radiation but copious infra red, your bird sez BEEP and sends a GPS measurement back to base.

Any chance of loading the aircraft with missiles armed with tranquillising warheads?

[Deleted]

I did some work a couple of years ago for an aerial mapping/survey Co based in Kyneton, but they do all their work in daylight. They charge pretty well too, but then they needed to because it cost them plenty to hire me. ;D

[The Doc]

Some might say .... $$$ down the tube! But not The Doc, Denny Boy, not The Doc. ;D

[JeffJ]

Hi Deb! Here is another idea/question, on another camera application. Have you ever considered making or digging a large den or other shelter(with rocks, wood placed around it-made to look natural) and employing a overhead camera inside to see what shows up? Placing cameras on animal pathways could strike gold-but you might get there faster if you provide something that most animals need-a place to rest. Just a thought-Jeff

[Thylacoleo Gal]

hi Jeff - yup, that's a good idea. i think nest/den boxes are used quite a lot. they don't have to look like the real thing so much - i get the impression scent is more important to critters. Which means u would have to leave it out there for a month or two before you even started to think about staking it out. There'd be issues with what you're allowed to do tho, depending on where the site is. Plonking a camera down on the ground is one thing, building some kind of structure is another. Gotta keep within the law.

[Deleted]

The problem with cameras/structures is that you still have to put them where the animals are loikely to turn up. What most people can't grasp is the size of the area we are trying to cover. Using Maryborough as a prime example, we have 30km of forest in any direction and more in some every time I get a good lead in one direction the critter turns up 20k away in another.