A really great little post on the importance of making data freely available (or at least with as few restrictions as possible). And the dangers inherent in treating data as intellectual property.

In particular this bit, quoted from a policy paper prepared by Athena Global:

• A direct association exists between pricing and its effects on public access and commercialisation of government agency information. Current pricing problems are having a deleterious effect on the affordability of spatial data in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom;
  
• A direct association exists between the application of intellectual property rights and the degree of public access and commercialisation of government agency information. The greater the restrictions on access, the less successful dissemination programs will be;
  
• Reducing prices and relaxing intellectual property restrictions on government datasets are significant factors improving opportunities for access and commercialization for stakeholders in the geographic information community.

It's impossible to put a value on all the earth observation data that the US government makes freely available. It is one of the undeniably good things they do and it's a shame that other countries do not do the same. Access to European remote sensing data, in particular, is a shambles (CNES Aviso data the notable exception).

Posted by Michael Coyne at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During our recent research expedition to Gabon I decided to name one of the leatherback turtles that we satellite tagged in honor of Buzz Out Loud. Buzz Out Loud is one of a handful of technology podcosts that I listen to on a regular basis (hey, I'm not just a "turtle" geek). I let the hosts of the show, Jason, Molly and Tom, pick the name and JaMoTo was born!

Jason, Molly and Tom were kind enough to adopt JaMoTo, and when they received their adoption packet they wore the hats I included in the packet during the show. As seen in the recorded video streams below. Watch to the end and you will get to see them try on the silly hat.

Click play on each of the streams to watch them in sync, but turn the volume down on all but one (otherwise you will get a wicked echo). Thanks to the folks at watchBOL for posting these online.

JaMoTo has been mentioned in a number of BOL episodes and even has her own Twitter feed.

Tom Merrit
Molly Wood
Jason Howell

Posted by Michael Coyne at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An animated series geared toward pre-schoolers, starring Linny (guinea pig), Ming-Ming (duckling) and Tuck (turtle). The Wonder Pets travel to Japan to save a newly hatched Baby Sea Turtle who can't find her way to the ocean.

On Nick Jr today.

Posted by Michael Coyne at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Day 2 - The Gathering (Day 1)

Arrive at Paris Charles de Gaul Airport with a few hours to to kill before the flight to Libreville and before colleagues arrive. So I pay way too much for internet access and complete final edits to MTN 119.


Brendan and Matthew arrive about threes hours later and we enjoy a quick coffee before boarding the next flight.


Board Air France flight to Libreville, Gabon. Arrive in Libreville. Fight off people wanting to carry our bags at the airport and try to find a taxi to Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Case de Passage.


We get settled in at the Case de Passage and enjoy a nice dinner with some folks from the Zoological Society of London that Brendan met on the plane.

Posted by Michael Coyne at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great video of several rival males trying to dislodge a mating male. From David Attenborough's Life in Cold Blood series.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeincoldblood/video.shtml

Posted by Michael Coyne at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I recently traveled to Gabon as part of a project to study the spatial ecology of sea turtles in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, funded by the Large Pelagics Research Center. The following provides highlights of the logistics required to make such a trip happen.

Photos and videos for this post were taken by myself, Matthew Witt, Angela Formia and Brendan Godley.

I had started to write up the whole trip at once, but the sheer volume of it all is proving daunting. I'd probably never finish if I tried to do it all at once. So, here we go, one day at a time...

Day 1 - Leave Home

Depart from Durham, North Carolina (me), Cornwall, UK (Brendan and Matt) and Rome (Angela). Exchange <insert your currency here> for Euros.

This follows several months of planning and years of building relationships that took place before any of us left home.

Posted by Michael Coyne at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)