Redmap WA: Community-Sourced Marine Mammal Sightings with Photo Verification

Redmap is a citizen science project by the Australian Ocean Data Network that collects community sightings of uncommon marine species along the Western Australian coast. The dataset includes species, location, date/time, and optional biological and environmental data, with sightings categorized as photo-verified or anecdotal. It is a live dataset with a three-year embargo, meaning it does not contain data less than three years old.

Use Cases

• Modeling changes in marine species distributions over time based on location and date data.
• Assessing the reliability of citizen science observations by comparing photo-verified and anecdotal sighting categories.
• Analyzing correlations between species sightings and environmental variables like water temperature and depth.
• Mapping spatial patterns of uncommon marine mammal occurrences along the Western Australian coast.

Strengths

• Includes a verification mechanism where sightings with photos are reviewed by marine biologists.
• Collects optional biological data such as sex, size, and weight for individual sightings.
• Gathers optional environmental data such as water depth, temperature, and habitat.

Limitations

• Spatial elements have reduced accuracy according to the description.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Community-sourced sightings via the Redmap website, with verification by marine biologists for photo submissions.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-09 23:06:46.635165; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Western Australian coast