gps attached pigeons keep an eye pollution
Sep 11, 2006 gps navigation, hacks, misc news, tracking
PigeonBlog is an alternative air pollution data gathering project which utilizes local pigeons in San Jose, CA. The birds, 16 of them, are equipped with a GPS enabled electronic air pollution sensing devices capable of sending real-time location based air pollution and image data to an online mapping/blogging environment.
The pigeons are not any other pigeon, but specially trained racing pigeons that have been trained to fly long distances at high speed and to come home reliably. The project also employs what they call ‘embedded reporters’ which are also pigeons, this time carrying a small cellphone camera and a microphone as opposed to a pollution sensors. The embedded reporters are planned to besent along with the pollution sensing birds to send reports during flight time. Photos will be send to the blog and humans will be able to call the pigeons to listen to the audio at any given point in time.
People in charge of the project hope to raise awareness of air pollution problems in the Southern California region and provide a fun and inclusive experience of air pollution data gathering while interacting with animals often regarded as urban hazards.
For those who are wondering if they can track any other animals using their methods don’t get your hopes up because their system is only capable of lasting a few hours…
Q: I own racing pigeons and would like to use your devices for tracking purposes only.
A: While this is possible, we recommend that you use smaller data logging devices that don’t require real-time transmission. Our devices are designed to be carried during short flights only (up to a hundred miles) and will loose battery power after that.
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November 24th, 2006 at 1:51 am
can I buy those thing for mypigeon just for track below 20 miles, because java pigeon racer only race for short track.. please give me info
where can i buy en how much all the equipment
i am in indonesia , jakarta ..sofyan@askrindo.co.id
November 11th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I HAVE RACING HOMERS PIGEONS AND I LIKE TO BUY SOME OF THOSE TRACKING DEVICES FOR A CLUB TRACKING PURPOSES CAN U SEND ME SOME INFO ABT IT
November 19th, 2007 at 7:24 am
I HAVE RACING HOMERS PIGEONS AND I LIKE TO BUY SOME OF THOSE TRACKING DEVICES FOR A CLUB TRACKING PURPOSES CAN U SEND ME SOME INFO ABT IT
March 5th, 2008 at 5:21 am
What devices can be used on pigeon tumblers to record the rolling height duration ect. We are in the pigeon bussiness and do competitions with the tumblers/rollers.
March 19th, 2008 at 8:46 am
[...] than a pound, it would have prevented the Cardinal from going anywhere. This reminded me of the pigeon tracking project we saw at the Where 2.0 conference last [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Does anyone know how to find the owner of a pigeon? I picked one up (roadside) the other day with an injured talon and wing. It is banded. How do I find it’s owner? If I can’t locate the owner how do I tend to it (living conditions, feed and such)?
At the moment it is in a hutch which I have used for baby robin rescue and other birds with meadow grass and bottled water & assorted seed.
Thank you in advance.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I found this site while looking for pigeon gps tracking devices. I am a software developer and have access to a gps data logger that weighs 12gm, and have software that is easy to use and very effective, can use microsoft maps or Google map.
I want to market this, please contact me with ideas on how to get it to buyers.
Thankyou
April 15th, 2009 at 4:49 am
If you ever want to hear a reader’s feedback :) , I rate this article for four from five. Decent info, but I have to go to that damn google to find the missed pieces. Thank you, anyway!
August 12th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Does anyone know where I can contact the guys who came up with this? The contact section on ‘pigeon blog’ isn’t working and I’d like to get in touch with them to pick their brains….Thx