Technology for Today's Conservationist

A Google TechTalk, 3/21/17, presented by Steve Schill ABSTRACT: The ever-increasing pace of technology is providing more tools and information with more detail to more people in more places around the world. For conservationists, this is an exciting time to employ new tools, yet the challenge is to use technology wisely and connect different technologies to the correct people who can use them more effectively. This presentation will provide a brief overview of how technologies such as remote sensing, cloud computing, smart phone apps, and crowdsourcing are providing real-time and near-real time information to conservation efforts around the world. Several case studies will show examples of how these technologies are being used and how data are being collected, processed, and analyzed at different spatial and temporal scales for use by resource managers to identify threats and develop mitigation strategies. Speaker Info: Dr. Steve Schill is Senior Scientist for The Nature Conservancy's Caribbean Program, directing all mapping, modeling and measures work across the insular Caribbean. He has nearly twenty years of professional experience using GIS and remote sensing techniques for natural resource management. He received his doctorate in remote sensing from the University of South Carolina where he managed NASA research projects and taught graduate coursework. His research interests include GIS-based conservation decision-making and tool development, multi-objective marine zoning, and capacity building in geospatial technologies. He works with local governments across the Caribbean to identify high priority conservation areas, improve management capacity, and implement monitoring measures.