A road mobile mapping device for supervised classification of amphibians on roads

An Improved Mobile Mapping System to Detect Road-Killed Amphibians and Small Birds

“…For broader and continuous monitoring programs, surveys should be logistically and economically achievable. Robotics and computer vision can provide the necessary tools to automatically detect wildlife-vehicle collisions by passive surveys, with the consequent reduction in costs and resources [11,12]. Moving platforms such as mobile mapping systems (MMSs) can take images from the road surfaces, automatically identify objects using intelligent algorithms, and extract the necessary geospatial data to locate WVCs [13,14].…”

“…We recently developed a MMS to detect wildlife-vehicle collisions of amphibians, composed of a scanning system on a trailer [11,12]. The system included a trichromatic line scan camera, a light-emitting diode, a global positioning system (GPS) device, and an industrial computer.…”

“…This system created a continuous road surface image, obtaining an object resolution of less than one millimeter [11]. Real surveys provided a correct classification rate of amphibians of 84% and a rate of failed classification of 16% [12]. One main advantage of this system is the possibility of checking the recorded images to find overlooked animals back at the office, something impossible to do in traditional surveys [6,7].…”

“…One main advantage of this system is the possibility of checking the recorded images to find overlooked animals back at the office, something impossible to do in traditional surveys [6,7]. This system is ideal for passive surveys, which are more economical and less time-consuming [12]. Anyone with or without sampling skills can survey while travelling.…”

“…Anyone with or without sampling skills can survey while travelling. However, the system has some limitations: the size and weight makes it cumbersome, the road sampling width is not large (the camera only captures one meter of the road width, not enough to cover an entire one-way road), the sampling length is limited to an external power source capacity (approximately one hour), and the total price of the system may be somewhat expensive (15,000 €) [11,12].…”