Director Dylan Verheul: ‘Critical expert users have played a crucial role in data quality monitoring from the very start.’ PHOTO: RAFAEL MARTIG / NATURALIS
The open biodiversity platform Observation.org connects people with nature worldwide, generating vast quantities of (monitoring) data in the process.
Observation.org, known as Waarneming.nl in the Netherlands and Waarnemingen.be in Belgium, is an online platform for wildlife observations. ‘The naming is a bit of a muddle, but we do use the familiar blue binoculars logo everywhere, which people will hopefully recognise us by’, explains Dylan Verheul, current director and co-founder, cheerfully. Through the website, and largely with the help of the image recognition app ObsIdentify, enthusiasts enter details about the organism they have found – such as the species name, location, date, number and, optionally, a photograph and/or sound recording. Once an observation has been entered and saved, it can be viewed and verified by other users. In 2024, no fewer than 16.4 million observations were recorded in the Netherlands alone, spread across approximately one hundred thousand active users.
Registration system
What is now a global database of millions of species observations began life as a simple registration system for bird sightings. ‘It was called Spotvogel.nl‘, Verheul recalls. Following a collaboration with another founder and a foundation, Waarneming.nl was launched in 2004. ‘Before long, users started asking whether they could also enter other animal groups and plants they came across, alongside birds – and we listened.’
Birds remain top of the charts for number of observations, nonetheless. ‘Birdwatchers will happily report the same bird every single day they see it, whereas a plant is often recorded only once per flowering season per user’, says Verheul. In terms of the number of photographs per taxonomic group, however, birds and plants score roughly equally: ‘Plants don’t move – they’re a great deal easier to photograph than birds.’
Validator
In the early years – before image recognition – some degree of expertise was required to use Waarneming.nl. Verheul explains: ‘Critical expert users have played a crucial role in data quality monitoring from the very start. By mutual agreement, they were given the role of validator, allowing them to assign a quality label to other people’s observations. We have built on that system over the past twenty years. We now also make extensive use of technology, informed by around a thousand species experts worldwide, half of whom are based in the Netherlands. These validators are volunteers at Observation.org, though some of our partner organisations allow validation to be carried out during working hours.’
‘Plants don’t move – they’re a great deal easier to photograph than birds’
The observations contribute to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), a global network for biodiversity data for which Observation.org is one of the largest data providers in the world. ‘That is genuinely accessible to everyone, so we try to find a sensible middle ground regarding what we can and cannot responsibly share. We do not share sensitive data, such as location information about a threatened species or habitat, because the risk of disturbance or destruction is then too great’, Verheul explains. Almost all data are, however, available on request for research purposes, and it is also possible for organisations to request specific datasets. ‘That does happen; in some cases it leads to a paid collaboration – for example, for data in a particular format.’
Growth opportunities
Alongside partnerships, donations, data deliveries to government bodies, and projects cover the platform’s operating costs, which amount to around 1.1 million euros per year. ‘We have unique expertise at the intersection of IT and biodiversity, and we serve a niche that is occasionally indispensable’, says Verheul. He uses the platform himself every day: ‘I used to be more fanatical about it, but if I stopped using it myself, I think it would be time to hand over the reins.’ There is no sign of that, however, as Verheul sees ample room for growth. ‘We are very proud of the continued expansion of our platform in the Netherlands and Belgium, but animals and plants do not stop at national borders. We are pleased that the technology we are able to develop here can be deployed worldwide. When we add functionality for a nature project, we make sure it is universally applicable, so that others do not constantly have to reinvent the wheel. When project initiators make use of our existing software, it saves them time and money, and they can invest those resources elsewhere in nature conservation.’
COMPANY: Observation.org
PRODUCT: biodiversity platform for citizen science and monitoring
STRUCTURE: foundation
LOCATION: Leiden
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 16
YEAR FOUNDED: 2004
TURNOVER: €1.1 million
WEBSITE: observation.org/waarneming.nl
NOTABLE FACTS: the foundation is non-profit and works with local partners including Naturalis, Natuurpunt, Natagora and Zostera