Olson Daniel D, Bissonette John A, Cramer Patricia C, Green Ashley D, Davis Scott T, Jackson Patrick J, Coster Daniel C
Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, United States of America.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2014 Jun 4;9(6):e98613. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098613. eCollection 2014.
Currently there is a critical need for accurate and standardized wildlife-vehicle collision data, because it is the underpinning of mitigation projects that protect both drivers and wildlife. Gathering data can be challenging because wildlife-vehicle collisions occur over broad areas, during all seasons of the year, and in large numbers. Collecting data of this magnitude requires an efficient data collection system. Presently there is no widely adopted system that is both efficient and accurate.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our objective was to develop and test an integrated smartphone-based system for reporting wildlife-vehicle collision data. The WVC Reporter system we developed consisted of a mobile web application for data collection, a database for centralized storage of data, and a desktop web application for viewing data. The smartphones that we tested for use with the application produced accurate locations (median error = 4.6-5.2 m), and reduced location error 99% versus reporting only the highway/marker. Additionally, mean times for data entry using the mobile web application (22.0-26.5 s) were substantially shorter than using the pen/paper method (52 s). We also found the pen/paper method had a data entry error rate of 10% and those errors were virtually eliminated using the mobile web application. During the first year of use, 6,822 animal carcasses were reported using WVC Reporter. The desktop web application improved access to WVC data and allowed users to easily visualize wildlife-vehicle collision patterns at multiple scales.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The WVC Reporter integrated several modern technologies into a seamless method for collecting, managing, and using WVC data. As a result, the system increased efficiency in reporting, improved accuracy, and enhanced visualization of data. The development costs for the system were minor relative to the potential benefits of having spatially accurate and temporally current wildlife-vehicle collision data.
目前迫切需要准确且标准化的野生动物与车辆碰撞数据，因为这是保护驾驶员和野生动物的缓解项目的基础。收集数据具有挑战性，因为野生动物与车辆碰撞发生在广阔区域，全年各个季节，且数量众多。收集如此大量的数据需要一个高效的数据收集系统。目前尚无广泛采用的既高效又准确的系统。
方法/主要发现：我们的目标是开发并测试一个基于智能手机的集成系统，用于报告野生动物与车辆碰撞数据。我们开发的WVC Reporter系统由一个用于数据收集的移动网络应用程序、一个用于集中存储数据的数据库以及一个用于查看数据的桌面网络应用程序组成。我们测试用于该应用程序的智能手机产生了准确的位置（中位误差 = 4.6 - 5.2米），与仅报告高速公路/标记相比，位置误差降低了99%。此外，使用移动网络应用程序进行数据录入的平均时间（22.0 - 26.5秒）比使用笔/纸方法（52秒）短得多。我们还发现笔/纸方法的数据录入错误率为10%，而使用移动网络应用程序几乎消除了这些错误。在使用的第一年，使用WVC Reporter报告了6822具动物尸体。桌面网络应用程序改善了对WVC数据的访问，并允许用户轻松地在多个尺度上可视化野生动物与车辆碰撞模式。
结论/意义：WVC Reporter将多种现代技术集成到一种无缝的方法中，用于收集、管理和使用WVC数据。因此，该系统提高了报告效率，提高了准确性，并增强了数据可视化。相对于拥有空间准确且时间最新的野生动物与车辆碰撞数据的潜在好处而言，该系统的开发成本较低。
