The Project Seagrass team have been busy working on a range of new features within SeagrassSpotter. Since our last major update in 2023, we have been working to further enhance your experience when participating in the programme and are super excited to share the latest developments. In response to your feedback, the new functionality focuses on introducing ways for you to interact with each other, as well as introducing an element of healthy competition as we seek to widen our reach, grow the community mapping the world’s seagrass, and contribute to solving global challenges for seagrass!
One of the six global challenges facing seagrass conservation is obtaining and maintaining information on the status and condition of seagrass meadows around the world. SeagrassSpotter makes a vital contribution to this, providing open access seagrass data that has been used in various scientific publications, from deep learning algorithms, to accessing genetic connectivity of seagrass populations.
Explore some of the new functionality below:
Leaderboards
Think Duolingo, but for seagrass! The new Leaderboards within SeagrassSpotter showcase users with the Most Sightings, Most Countries Visited, and highest number of Species Found.
With Yearly and All Time views available, users have a range of options to explore the sightings of their fellow SeagrassSpotters. And if your competitive spirit inspires you to head out to your local beach in search of seagrass, we’d love to see your sightings!
Achievements
Following the latest update, you might have noticed some new badges on your profile. This forms part of a host of new Achievements that SeagrassSpotter users can work towards. Ranging from the number of sightings uploaded to more specific achievements such as taking a photo with seeds or flowers or, there are a range of different achievements to unlock.
Interactivity
Users now have the opportunity to interact with each other’s seagrass sightings. Alongside new Like and Comment functions, users can now Favourite a seagrass sighting, making it easily accessible to find again via the My Favourites section in My Profile.
Users can also make use of a new ‘I’ve spotted this too’ function, helping the community to confirm data points for sightings.
We love to hear your feedback! SeagrassSpotter is constantly developing in response to its users. Please send any comments or feedback you have to seagrassspotter@projectseagrass.org
.
