""eBird" is the real life Silph Road Nest Atlas"

#PokemonGO: Bird watching and Pokemon Go are more alike than different, and both hobbies have led to similar creations. The Silph Road Nest Atlas was built to help decrease search time to find rare/unusual Pokemon, whose occurrence is predictable short-term but changes over time, and to study general patterns. For birders, eBird (http://ift.tt/2k5sFSn) was built to help decrease search time to find rare/unusual birds, whose occurrence is predictable short term but changes over time, and to study general patterns. One difference is that eBird has been around for quite a while now, so I just wanted to share some of the features I like about it most, which may have relevance for The Silph Road (I realize some of these features are already in the Nest Atlas or that there are similar to atlas features--I'm just saying greatest hits from eBird):*Incentives for reporting reliable bird sightings*A tiered submission system--really unusual sightings automatically get flagged, and you have to submit proof to a reviewer (e.g., a photo of the rare bird) to get it posted*You can set your account to alert you when a species enters your area*You can query the database to create simple graphs of occurrence (abundance, range, and timing) to give you an idea of a species' occurrence*Searchable map with color coding to let you know if a sighting is current or historic*Ability to see your ranking compared to other local birders--how many species have you found, how many checklists have you submitted compared to people in your county or stateThe Silph Road Nest Atlas is amazing given how small a budget and number of people you have working--eBird has the benefit of full time staff and institutional support (Cornell University, Audubon Society, National Science Foundation). Just thought it would be interesting to alert y'all to a very similar hobby and a very similar effort.TL;DR: The common challenges faced by Pokemon Go enthusiasts and birders have led to similar efforts (Nest Atlas, eBird)--some features of eBird could be cool to think about, even if not 100% comparable. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2muQR2k