How do we count animals? How do we keep our data? How do we disseminate our data? At what cost? And why...? There is a lot of questions related to wildlife management in Tanzania. Some are technical, and some bordering to the more political sides of wildlife management. All of them bear witness of the complexity of the ecosystems we are dealing with.

Counting animals is about generalisation. It is about reducing each individual to a series of numbers. Age, position, weight, values from blood samples, behaviour and even... stripes. With maps we can, for better or worse, take this even further. With the proper analysis based on generalisations we can see patterns of birth, disease and ultimately death. For the geographer, spatial patterns emerging from maps, can be the tools of understanding. For the biologist, blood samples can be means for the same understanding. Combining forces we can arrive to new conclusions, or even new questions.



During the last two years I have worked on a system for storing, calculating and presenting survey data for the Tanzanian government. This article is about parts of the work we are doing at Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI). As an intern financed by the Norwegian FK in collaboration with NTNU and NINA I have been given an opportunity to learn about animal surveys by the experts at TAWIRI. It has also given me an opportunity to contribute using my own skills as a geographer and programmer.

In my view one of the main obstacles in this work has been the lack of standards for exchange of data. As a consequence we have started working on formalising the use of Quarter Degree Grid Cells as a means of sharing survey data. Developing actual tools has been an integral part of this work. In this article I will examine the possibilities of using web mapping in the service of biodiversity research and management.

The illustrative project of this work is the Tanzania Mammal Atlas Project (TMAP), currently hosted at the Carnivore centre, TAWIRI, Arusha.



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