Endangered Around You

When we think of endangered species, we imagine exotic animals from foreign lands far away. However, we neglect the ones living closest to us, who are impacted the most by our everyday actions.

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Inspiration

We were inspired to create a program that helps the user realize when they've encountered an endangered species after realizing how little we know about ecosystems that surround us. We acknowledged that we interact with many animals daily but have little knowledge about what they contribute to their ecosystem and the state of their population. We also realized that having to look up and search through different websites to find information about a certain species is a tedious task. Therefore, we decided to create a program that easily allows the user to learn about endangered species in their area and search for information about a potential endangered species they may have come into contact with.

What it does

Our programs provides the user with a list of endangered species within their area, and allows the user to enter an image to determine whether a species they came into contact with is endangered. After they enter their image, if the species is endangered, we provide a brief description and next steps.

How we built it

We built Endangered Around Us using HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flask and different API's such as Geoapify and NatureServe Explorer.

Challenges we ran into

One of our original ideas was to implement a recognition system for different endangered species using OpenCV with python. We planned on implementing a program that allowed the user to point their camera at an animal and if it was endangered, we'd display relevant information. However, after creating a facial recognition program, we realized its accuracy was very low and was basically unusable, which is why we decided to implement a file drop off system instead.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Accomplishments we're proud of include:

  • Successfully implementing different API's (Geoapify, NatureServe Explorer)
  • Successfully creating a file drop off system

What we learned

We improved our skills in:

  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Javascript
  • OpenCV with Python
  • Flask
  • Prototyping softwares (Figma)

What's next for Endangered Around You

We plan on implementing a working camera detection system for endangered species filtered by area and creating more description pages for animals in further regions.

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