GOT YA! : Young Wildlife Ranger and Explorer

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  Interactive map

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  VR Biome and Animal Interaction

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  VR Minigame

Inspiration

Bob works as WWF education volunteer. Children want to be able to learn and contribute to solving issues. In the pandemic children are stuck at home and bored. A lot of children cannot afford to travel. But now they can! If children are educated they can influence their parents' consumption behavior and reduce demand for wildlife products. Furthermore, it is very useful to have a map to see how wildlife is trafficked from one biome to other places in the world. Such a map helps to build understanding. But it is also a game. I was inspired by Pokémon Go where you can spot pokémon in the wild. However, children should not think they can catch or own a species. Therefore, a snapshot is added to their logbook of species like a naturalist. They score points through spotting wildlife and finishing minigames.

What it does

Children access an interactive map of world's biomes and biodiversity and access minigames about nature threats. Educational video's with locations where they were shot are shown on this map, as well as news of wildlife, such as rewilding efforts and wildlife seizures (you can see the route the contraband has made). When children click on a biome they can look around and spot species in their natural surroundings. Then, an interaction between the animal and child is started. The animal talks about itself (habitat, behavior) and threats it is facing in the world (IUCN status is shown and easily explained). The child has to help the animal solve a challenge. For example, removing a trap from its foot, or finding back its skin in a living room (this will be visualized child-friendly). Children can interact with their friends and collaborate to organize events to donate to a new threatened species, when they are alerted by a NGO or CITES.

How I built it

We did not built it. We used RoomStyler to visualize a VR room. We don't have GIS or VR skills. We suggest using 3D GIS to recreate unique landscape features (mountains, rivers) and use VR to visualize different biomes. The link to the presentation and video is provided in a WeTransfer Link https://we.tl/t-n3Zq7asr6v

Challenges I ran into

Having hardly programming or tech skills in our team. Having to visualize the app without design skills. I ran into a copyright issue. You can find the attribution links to all pictures in the WeTransfer Link presentation. However, just before submitting I found out that the Jaguar Camera Trap picture has copyright. We were too late to edit it.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

A lot of work done by our team in one day and we hope to develop this project further!

What I learned

Keep trying with what you got. Work out bigger ideas and focus on details on the end.

What's next for GOT YA! : Young Wildlife Ranger and Explorer

Getting the help of educators, VR and wildlife specialists to make this game a reality! Perhaps even recreate a strategy game where players manage a nature reserve on the real world's map recreated by 3D GIS and have to balance law enforcement, conservation, community needs and tourist development. Interaction with neighboring players.

Built With

• 3d
• gis
• vr