New Design, Easy Access, Pioneering Tools for Gombe 'Geoblog' Users

June 18, 2007 — By the Jane Goodall Institute

ARLINGTON, VA. — The Jane Goodall Institute's (JGI) Gombe Chimpanzee Blog, launched in 2006, has delighted web users with regular reports and photographs of Gombe's famous chimpanzees, set against a lush digital representation of Gombe National Park in Tanzania - a unique blend of scientific field reporting, high-resolution satellite imagery and cutting edge web technology via JGI and Google Earth.

Now a redesigned Gombe Chimpanzee Blog has more surprises in store for users, including a unified viewing experience incorporating Google Maps, an innovative new tool allowing users to leave "geotagged" comments, and new feeds and formats.

Most exciting, the blog also features an open source content management system, Earthwatcher,TM that will be made available to other conservation organizations and officially launched in July 2007.

The blog's new layout incorporates Google Maps, making it possible to browse and read the blog entries without having to download or run Google Earth. But it also has enhanced Google Earth Content so users who prefer that interface can more seamlessly read, browse and interact with the blog and its other readers.

New geo-referenced commenting tools allow users to post comments or ask questions geographically - right in the Google Earth or Google Maps environment.

It has integrated new feed formats including Atom RSS, GeoRSS and an improved KML feed, so users can keep up to date with the blog in a variety of readers and formats.

JGI launched the Gombe Chimpanzee Blog in January 2006 with daily updates from field researcher Emily Wroblewski, who is studying paternity among the chimpanzees. Her entries give us a glimpse of the delights and rigors of chimpanzee field research and an ongoing view of the research program begun by Jane Goodall in 1960. Emily is trying to determine if paternal relatives treat each other in special ways, favoring each other, for example, through grooming or sharing of meat.

The Gombe blog serves thousands of visitors through the Institute's website, www.janegoodall.org, and through Google Earth's Global Awareness Layer. There are more than 200 million Google Earth users.

Look for more information about the innovative Earthwatchr application in July 2007, when it is set for pubic beta release. This "conservation geoblogging" software seeks to address the needs of conservation organizations, eco-travellers and earth bloggers looking to use geoblogging to make a difference in the world. It is.

Several organizations have already expressed interest in applying this technology to their work.

"It will be the first integrated system that will allow people to "geoblog" from the road or field without specialized knowledge or tools beyond a laptop," says JGI's Bryce Tugwell, who designed the first geoblog and this latest version as well.

Check out the blog: www.janegoodall.org

About JGI :

Founded in 1977, the Jane Goodall Institute continues Dr. Goodall's pioneering research into chimpanzee behavior - research that transformed scientific perceptions of the relationship between humans and animals. Today, the Institute is widely recognized for establishing innovative community-centered conservation and development programs (TACARE) in Africa and the Roots & Shoots education program, which has groups in more than 95 countries. For more information, visit: www.janegoodall.org

Contact Info:

Nona Gandelman
Tel : 703-682-9220
E-mail : ngandelman@janegoodall.org

Website : the Jane Goodall Institute