Integrating MS Live Earth, Max Ent and Presence into a interconnectivity platform to assist wildlife conservation in the Andes of Chile and Bolivia –LiveANDES. (Earth, Environment & Climate Change)

Cristián Bonacic from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Luis Pacheco from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Bolivia and Gerardo Ceballos from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico.

The aim of this project is to develop a platform for interconnectivity between MS Live Earth for Bing Maps and novel spatial modeling software (Max Ent and Presence) to manage field data, and estimate wildlife distributions in Chile and Bolivia. Wildlife managers in the Andes currently have little access to simple, interactive tools that help interpret and understand wildlife observation data. There is a need for modern ICT tools to improve decision-support for conflict resolution (e.g. between livestock and predators), species conservation (endangered species) and invasive alien species. The aim is to produce a platform that connects several wildlife distribution modeling applications with MS Live Earth and to promote software literacy between wildlife conservationists in the region.