NATUREGATE OPENS UP A VIEW TO THE NATURE
Finnish online service, NatureGate (www.naturegate.org) offers an internationally unique image library with over 400,000 scientifically accurate images of Finnish plants, birds and butterflies with information on their habitat. Freely accessible service is now available in six languages and is expanding rapidly internationally.
NatureGate is based on two Finnish documentarians Eija and Jouko Lehmuskallio's image archive resulting from over 20 years of systematic wildlife photography.
"Finland is in one of the top countries in the world in identifying species and yet there is a lot of work to be done. --- The idea with NatureGate is to offer a broad set of images to help everyone to learn to read nature, identify species and this way provide nature experiences", says Eija Lehmuskallio.
NatureGate was launched in Finland in September 2008 to all internet users in six different languages - Finnish, Swedish, English, German, French and Spanish. The archive now covers all flowering plants in the Nordic Countries, 75% of those in Europe and 50% of those in North America, along with a large number of other populations. By summer 2009, the service will also encompass plants, birds and butterflies from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia. Expansion to at least Germany, France, UK, Spain, India and Argentina is due later.
Internationally patented identification tool enables users to easily enter information about where and when they observed a flower or bird, as well as details of its color, shape and size. With every added feature, the identification tool narrows down the list of possible species, until only a couple of illustrated examples are left for users to compare and pick out their sighting. In the first version users can identify plants. Tool for Identifying birds and butterflies will be ready in May 2009.
In the future user can also send in images and observations complete with GPS data. These observations can be used in research on changes in the habitats of plants and species caused by climate change. All information will be verified by researchers before publishing on the site.
Development of the service has been done in collaboration with researchers from the University of Helsinki and CICERO Learning network of researchers. Finance has been sought from both public and private sponsorship and the aim is to establish the service quickly in the school system from comprehensive schools to universities.
For more information about visiting Finland www.visitfinland.com
Address to NatureGate www.naturegate.net
For more information about NatureGate, please contact:
Eija Lehmuskallio Päivi Korvela
Producer, Director Marketing Manager
+35840 596 8560 +35840 563 5757
eija@naturegate.net paivi.korvela@naturegate.net
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