In an effort to protect marine life, we developed a community-powered, real-time whale tracking platform that functions seamlessly across remote oceanic zones. The solution integrates a modern whale sightings app, geolocation services, and notification tools to empower citizens, researchers, and commercial operators. As a cutting-edge example of marine conservation technology, the platform bridges the gap between real-time data sharing and offline accessibility. It enables proactive marine wildlife tracking, helping prevent ship-whale collisions and facilitating actionable ecological insights. By engaging both public observers and commercial users, the platform enhances conservation participation and supports sustainable practices in marine transportation.
Commercial vessels lacked visibility into real-time whale locations, increasing the risk of ship strikes and hindering route adjustments that could have helped to protect marine life.
Public, mariner, and researcher contributions were siloed due to the absence of user-friendly, multi-platform tools for sharing verified marine wildlife tracking data.
Most marine zones experience low or no network access, limiting the timeliness and accuracy of reported whale sightings and alerts essential for effective conservation.
Existing tools were often single-purpose or lacked community collaboration features, making large-scale ocean wildlife protection difficult and unsustainable.
We built a unified, scalable solution combining mobile-first design, real-time tracking, offline support, and multi-channel alerting for dynamic marine conservation and operational safety.
Designed for both Android and iOS, the app enables users to log whale sightings with GPS, time, species, and behavioral details—even in remote waters with offline syncing.
Ships receive immediate alerts through SMS, push, or email when whales are sighted within their ZOI. This helps reroute traffic and avoid potentially fatal collisions.
An intuitive admin dashboard provides role-based access for observers, researchers, and commercial users while maintaining moderation, validation, and analytics control.
Real-time sighting maps allow users to visualize whale locations, apply ZOI filters, and receive whale alert system notifications based on their defined maritime zones.
All user reports are queued offline and auto-synced when connectivity is restored, ensuring no sighting goes unreported—crucial for remote ocean data collection.
Users can log sightings through mobile or web, tagging essential metadata like species, direction, timestamp, and even upload photos to enhance ecological understanding.
Sightings are plotted on a live map with clustering and filtering for clarity, helping researchers and vessels assess patterns and make informed navigation decisions.
Alerts are delivered via SMS, email, and push notifications using Azure and Mandrill to ensure timely action from commercial and conservation stakeholders.
Users in low-connectivity marine zones can still log and queue data, which syncs once the device reconnects—critical for consistent marine wildlife tracking.
The system supports multiple user types with varying permissions and includes an admin panel for validating data and overseeing platform activity.
Azure Communication Services
Azure Notification Hub
Azure Storage Blob
Mailchimp
Mandrill
React Native
Winston Logger
Winston Logger
Swagger
Prisma
Throttler
Real-time alerts to commercial vessels have helped decrease ship strikes, fostering more responsible route planning and ocean wildlife protection.
Verified sightings, enriched with detailed behavioral metadata, are shared with researchers, enhancing the quality and quantity of data used for conservation studies.
With thousands of contributors using the whale sightings app, citizens have become vital allies in protecting endangered species through informed, participative action.
Real-time ZOI alerts enable ships to reroute or adjust speeds, minimizing disruptions while adhering to marine safety and sustainability protocols.
The platform doubles as an educational tool, engaging users in the importance of whale conservation and the broader mission to protect marine life.
Be part of a movement using technology to preserve our oceans—track, report, and act to protect whales today.
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