2013 - Geoinformatics

32
A r t i c l e
Patagonia National Park
By Rick Tingey and
John Timar
Conservacion Patagonia and its partner organization Round River Conservation
Studies needed to create a comprehensive map of the Patagonia National Park,
a 650,000-acre expanse of mountains, grasslands, forests, wetlands, rivers and
alpine lakes located in Chile’s Aysen Region. With numerous independent
scientific researchers uncovering new information about the landscape, the organizations
needed a shareable system for recording data about the region in a
geospatial context. They turned to a geospatial collaboration software solution
which finally yielded a rich and detailed information base that any collaborator
and view and edit.
Preserving Patagonia National Park
U s i n g G e o s p a t i a l C o l l a b o r a t i o n S o l u t i o n s
With a commitment to the
wild future of Patagonia,
a region located at the
southern end of South
America, Conservacion
Patagonica is an organization that works to
create national parks that save and restore
wildlands and wildlife, inspire care for the natural
world, and generate healthy economic
opportunities for local communities.
Created by Conservacion Patagonica, the
future Patagonia National Park is a 650,000-
acre expanse of mountains, grasslands,
forests, wetlands, rivers and alpine lakes located
in Chile’s Aysen Region. When
Conservacion Patagonica began the
Patagonia National Park project, it set off into
uncharted territory to create comprehensive
and functional maps of the landscape.
Through its partner organization Round River
Conservation Studies, which provides student
study abroad programs and extensive field
research and community planning, the organizations
needed to generate baseline mapping
data about wildlife and plants in
Patagonia National Park. The organization
found that while government survey maps provided
an accurate rendering of the terrain,
they did not offer collaboration and data customization
capabilities. In addition, Web map
services could only provide so much in a
region where Internet connectivity is scarce.
Collaboration and information sharing
With numerous independent scientific
researchers uncovering new information about
the landscape, the project required a shared
and shareable system for recording place
data. As such, Round River Conser vation
Studies set out to create a platform that encouraged
and supported collaboration and information-sharing
among the various people
working on the ground in the park: the wildlife
recovery team, independent scientists, the trail
building team, historians and archeologists
and others.
Round River Conservation Studies needed the
right geospatial collaboration solution to help
create a central repository for all work that is
being done in the region, and that could be
shared with the larger scientific community
and beyond. More importantly, the solution
needed to be easy to manage, update and
ultimately, enable everyone on the team share
this data.
The organization turned to TerraGo’s geospatial
collaboration software for creating cus-
June 2013