WildEye Conservation

free

WildEye Conservation offers free AI-powered tools for wildlife researchers — automate camera trap annotation, aerial survey analysis, and population monitoring.

Data & Analytics

Research & Education

AI Research Tools

About

WildEye Conservation is a nonprofit-oriented technology organization dedicated to applying AI to wildlife conservation challenges. Founded in 2014, they offer three core products: TrapTagger, SurveyScope, and SkySeeker. TrapTagger uses AI to automatically annotate camera-trap images — locating and identifying animals, building databases of known individuals via coat-pattern-matching algorithms, and providing built-in statistical analysis. It is completely free, cloud-based, and has processed over 100 million images for 130+ organizations worldwide, saving years of manual human effort. SurveyScope applies AI to aerial population-census imagery, automatically locating and identifying animals regardless of data source, view angle, survey technique, or species. Compared to traditional aerial surveys, it reduces costs by requiring smaller aircraft and fewer crew, eliminates the need for rear-seat observers, improves consistency by removing human variability, and creates a permanent auditable image record. SkySeeker is a wing-strut-mounted camera pod designed for light aircraft, FAA/CAA/TCCA certified, and controllable via a mobile app. It is engineered to overcome the limitations of satellites (insufficient resolution), drones (limited endurance), and thermal cameras (ineffective in heat), and is designed to pair with SurveyScope. All software products are completely free, fully cloud-secured, and guarantee that user data is never shared. WildEye's tools are ideal for wildlife researchers, park managers, conservation NGOs, and aerial survey practitioners seeking scalable, cost-effective population monitoring.

Key Features

TrapTagger Camera Trap AI: Automatically annotates camera-trap images by locating and identifying animals, including individual recognition via coat-pattern-matching algorithms and built-in statistical analysis.
SurveyScope Aerial Survey Annotation: AI-powered tool that processes aerial population-census data from any source, view angle, or species — replacing manual counting and reducing costs significantly.
SkySeeker Camera Pod: FAA/CAA/TCCA-certified wing-strut-mounted camera system for light aircraft, controllable via mobile app, generating high-quality aerial imagery for wildlife surveys.
Secure Cloud Data Management: All camera trap and aerial survey data is stored securely in the cloud, remains the property of the user, and is never shared with third parties.
Individual Animal Identification: Uses coat-pattern-matching AI algorithms to build databases of known individual animals, enabling long-term population tracking and behavioral studies.

Use Cases

Wildlife researchers using camera traps to monitor animal populations in national parks and protected areas can automate image annotation with TrapTagger, dramatically reducing manual review time.
Park management organizations conducting annual aerial wildlife censuses can use SurveyScope to replace costly traditional methods with AI-driven image analysis from smaller, cheaper aircraft.
Conservation NGOs tracking known individual animals (e.g., leopards, zebras) can leverage coat-pattern-matching in TrapTagger to build longitudinal databases of individual animals for behavioral and population studies.
Aerial survey practitioners needing certified, portable imaging hardware can attach SkySeeker to locally available light aircraft without modification and control it via a mobile app.
Academic and field researchers requiring permanent, auditable records of wildlife population data can store all camera-trap and aerial survey imagery securely in the cloud with full data provenance.

Pros

Completely Free to Use: Both TrapTagger and SurveyScope are entirely free, removing financial barriers for underfunded conservation organizations and researchers worldwide.
Massive Scale & Proven Track Record: Over 100 million images processed across 130+ organizations since 2014, demonstrating reliability and real-world conservation impact at scale.
End-to-End Conservation Workflow: Covers the full data pipeline from hardware image capture (SkySeeker) to AI annotation (SurveyScope/TrapTagger) to statistical analysis, all in one ecosystem.
Data Privacy Guaranteed: User data is never shared or used for any purpose outside the user's own project, a critical consideration for sensitive wildlife location data.

Cons

Narrow Domain Focus: Tools are purpose-built for wildlife conservation and are not adaptable for general-purpose computer vision or other industries.
SkySeeker Requires Aircraft: The SkySeeker hardware system depends on access to light aircraft, which may be a logistical and cost barrier for smaller or remote conservation projects.
Limited Integration Ecosystem: No mention of integrations with popular research data platforms, GIS tools, or third-party analytics software, which may require manual data export workflows.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Both TrapTagger and SurveyScope are completely free to use. There is no subscription, no freemium tier, and no hidden fees. WildEye is mission-driven and aims to support conservation organizations of all sizes.

You retain full ownership of your data. WildEye explicitly states that your data is yours and will never be shared with any third party.

TrapTagger is designed to work across a wide variety of species and global regions. Over 130 organizations across multiple continents have used it, reflecting broad taxonomic and geographic coverage.

No. TrapTagger and SurveyScope are web-based platforms designed for conservationists and field researchers, not software developers. The tools provide built-in analysis without requiring programming knowledge.

SkySeeker is a wing-strut-mounted camera pod for light aircraft that generates high-quality aerial imagery. It was designed to work with SurveyScope, but SurveyScope can process aerial data from any source — SkySeeker is optional.