Toolbox update 5: Camera trapping database

We have a treat for all you camera trappers out there, especially those with tons of photos lying in the depths of your hard drives gathering virtual dust and cobwebs. Shariff Mohamad, who is a field biologist with WWF-Malaysia, has developed a database for camera trapping data. He is delighted to share his software to make the lives of disorganized camera trappers much easier when it comes to processing camera trap photos for statistical analyses. By the way, Shariff was also one of the authors of the very useful guide to camera trapping in the previous Toolbox update #4. So take it away Shariff!

Happy new year everyone!  The reason I am sharing this is so that camera trappers have an alternative database solution apart from the popular software Camera Base. Unfortunately, there are hardly any camera-trap databases available for public use, so I thought it would be useful to offer an alternative to people out there. I initially considered using Camera Base while looking for data solutions, but in the end decided to create my own using the same platform (MS Access), as at the time I couldn’t figure out how to customize Camera Base according to my specific needs. I want to clarify that I don’t consider my database superior to Camera Base in any way, but am merely providing an alternative data solution for those with similar needs.

So here are the files you need to download: Continue reading

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Toolbox update 3: Extracting data from MakerNote

This one is for all you biologists using cameras or camera traps out here! Certain cameras and camera traps, such as those from Reconyx, now store much of the image data in binary format in MakerNote. Apart from the Date and Time, which are the most important information we need for data analyses, Reconyx camera trap pictures have additional information such as Temperature and Moon Phases (see below).

Reconyx camera trap photo of a Malayan Sunbear using a viaduct in the Kenyir Wildlife Corridor. © Rimba

Unfortunately,  the data in MakerNote is not readily extracted Continue reading