The Mapping Application for Penguin Populations and Projected Dynamics (MAPPPD) is an open access decision support tool designed to aid in
the dissemination of penguin population data for the Antarctic continent. Potential users must agree and adhere to the Terms of Use set forth below,
prior to accessing data.
Definitions
i. MAPPPD: The acronym for the Mapping Application for Penguin Populations and Projected Dynamics. This refers to the website: www.penguinmap.com and any subdomain or URL associated with that site (e.g., www.penguinmap.com/mapppd).
ii. Database: The instruments and system from which the MAPPPD website draws its data.
iii. Database Managers: The individuals (Dr. Heather Lynch, Dr. Christian Che-Castaldo, Dr. Grant Humphries) who manage and own the Database and MAPPPD, who are in charge of decision making with respect to MAPPPD.
iv. Data Owner(s): The legal owner(s) of the data provided via MAPPPD (which could be an organization or individual).
v. Data User or Data Requestor: The individual or organization requesting data from the database.
Access to and use of the Mapping Application for Penguin Populations and Projected Dynamics (MAPPPD) is subject to the following terms:
1. By accessing MAPPPD (www.penguinmap.com and any subdomain or URL associated with it), the Data User or Data Requester agrees and adhere to the terms and conditions of use described in this document. Potential Data Users or Data Requesters who cannot or will not agree to these terms and conditions of use should not access MAPPPD.
2. The Database Managers reserve the right to change or revise these Terms of Use, which will be kept current on the website homepage (www.penguinmap.com) and news page (www.penguinmap.com/news). Continued use of the website by Data Users or Data Requesters indicates their being legally bound to the Terms of Use at the time the data is requested.
3. It is strictly forbidden to copy material or data from MAPPPD or the Database for profit without the express, written permission of the Data Owners.
4. Data Users or Data Requesters are permitted to view and copy any material from MAPPPD to their personal hard disk for scientific study or personal use.
5. Use of data from the Database or MAPPPD are permitted pending proper acknowledgement is given to the data owner(s) and to MAPPPD through citation of the MAPPPD white paper and the study(ies) associated with the data.
6. The Database Managers and Oceanites, Inc. will not be held liable for any damages (indirect or consequential) associated with use of the Database or MAPPPD. This includes any damages from use or loss of use, loss of data or profits, arising from the use of MAPPPD or the Database.
7. The Database Managers do not guarantee uninterrupted service on MAPPPD or the Database. Furthermore, we do not guarantee error-free tools and services, although we will continually strive to improve on any such errors.
8. The Database Managers cannot be held liable for slow loading times from the database or the website as these may arise from slow internet connections or computers on the user side.
MAPPPD Terms of Use (Although, MAPPPD aims to optimize code as well as possible to ensure fast loading times where possible.)
9. Geographic names in the database are representative only of those associated with the
Antarctic Peninsula Compendium, 3rd edition, and do not imply any expression of opinion by the
Database Managers.
10. The Database Managers reserve the right to change the data in the Database at any time due to
corrections or amendments from Data Owners. The Database managers endeavor to ensure
accurate and up-to-date information in the Database at all times, but this is not guaranteed.
Data terms and conditions
11. Any data submitted to MAPPPD or the Database remain the property of the Data Owners unless
otherwise stated, or ownership has been transferred. Data in MAPPPD or the Database are
managed by the Database Managers and protected by the conditions in the Terms of Use.
12. It is the responsibility of the Data Owner to provide contact details and citations for any data
submitted to the database. It is also the responsibility of the Data Owner to ensure data are
accurate and up to date, and in the correct format for MAPPPD when submitting the data sheet.
Data Owners shall inform the Database Managers of any updates or changes to the data if they
occur.
13. All data submitted to MAPPPD and the Database will be displayed at
www.penguinmap.com/mapppd on a map of the Antarctic continent in the geographic
coordinate system EPSG:3031
14. Any metadata submitted by Data Owners can be shared with other similar web portals to
facilitate usefulness of these databases.
15. Data Requestors may request data from the Database through the procedures described in
MAPPPD.
16. The Data Owner has the right to determine how Data Requestors may or may not use data from
MAPPPD and the Database.
17. Data can be requested in several formats dependent on the requests of the Data Owners
18. Data Owners may stipulate conditions to data access of their data on MAPPPD including coauthorship,
acknowledgement or right to comment before publication.
19. Once data are accessed and downloaded, the Data Requestor must ensure that:
a. All conditions set by the Data Owners including, but not limited to co-authorship, right to
comment before publication, or acknowledgement, are met.
b. All citations are provided with data requested and must be used in any publication,
report, or when data from MAPPPD or Database are employed.
c. Any data from MAPPPD or the Database cannot be used for financial gain unless
otherwise stipulated and agreed to by the Data Owners and Database Managers.
d. Use of these data does not constitute endorsement by Stony Brook University,
Oceanites, Inc., or the Database managers.
e. The Database Managers are given the right to comment on any material produced using
data from MAPPPD or the Database.
You can be a penguin detective and contribute directly to MAPPPD
Over the last several years, penguin biologists have been working hard to
find all the penguin colonies in Antarctica using satellite imagery. However,
the massive expanse of the continent and the challenges of finding each last
penguin colony leave many likely undiscovered. This is where you can help!
This short guide is intended to walk you through the basics of penguin colony
detective work using Google Earth. Understanding what you are seeing in satellite
imagery takes some practice, but with some patience, you too can join the online
expedition to find all of Antarctica’s penguins.
Follow the steps below:
Step 1
Download Google Earth or Google Earth Pro at https://www.google.com/earth/. Google Earth Pro is now free, and contains additional features that users may find useful.
Step 2
Download the .kml files for all sites per each species by clicking on the appropriate button seen here.
Double click the file to open in Google Earth when downloaded. When opened they will help you identify existing colonies. These data will be updated periodically depending on
any changes to MAPPPD including site location name changes, or re-adjustment of colony locations. Check in
every so often to get updated colony locations.
Using the .KML files you downloaded in step 2, explore some of the known penguin colonies in Google Earth.
This will help orient you to what a colony should look like! You can see some images here.
If you can't find the colony, try using the time slider
to find a clearer image. Bigger colonies will be much easier to spot than smaller ones.
Keep in mind that when we look for penguins from satellite, we aren't looking for individual penguins. We actually look for
guano stains.
Look for the pink or brown stains in the snow, and keep in mind that colonies
will always be close (max 1 - 3km) to water.
Click to expand
Click to expand
Step 4
Now that you've identified a potential candidate location, ask yourself a few questions:
Is it close to water?
Are the stains rounded? (straight edges suggest rock formations)
Is the image from the right time of year? (November - March)
Does it already appear in the database?
If you think that you have found a site we've missed, send an e-mail to info@penguinmap.com with the following information:
Your name
Your contact information (e-mail)
Latitude and Longitude of the site (use the approximate center)
Date the image was taken (see Google Earth display)
Screenshot of the site with suspected guano stains
Thanks for contributing to MAPPPD! Citizen science efforts like this make a real difference in understanding the pristine Antarctic environment
