Repository of camera trap data recorded during three pilot studies of the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen

Three camera trap data packages (https://camtrap-dp.tdwg.org/) of data collected as part of pilot studies carried out in the  Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen. The pilots were aimed at determining how different types of camera deployment (e.g. regular vs. wide lens, various heights, inside/outside exclosures) might influence species detections, and how to deploy autonomous wildlife monitoring networks. Two pilots were conducted in herbivore exclosures and mainly detected European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes). The third pilot was conducted outside exclosures, with the European fallow deer (Dama dama) being most prevalent. Across all three pilots, a total of 47,597 images were annotated using the Agouti platform. All annotations were verified and quality-checked by a human expert. A total of 2,779 observations of 20 different species (including humans) were observed using 11 wildlife cameras during 2021–2023. The raw image files (excluding humans), image metadata, deployment metadata and observations from each pilot are shared using the Camtrap DP open standard and the extended data publishing capabilities of GBIF to increase the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability of this data. The data are freely available and can be used for developing artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that automatically detect and identify species from wildlife camera images.

The repository contains a data package in Camtrap DP format  for each of the three pilots. Camtrap DP is an open standard for the exchange and archiving of camera trap data using a standardized data structure. Each data package consists of the following resources:

·        datapackage.json: Contains metadata about the data package and camera trap project from which the data originates. Describes taxonomic, temporal, and spatial extent.

·        deployments.csv: Table of individual camera trap deployments, detailing exact location and times active of each camera deployment.

·        media.csv: Table detailing every image in the data package. Lists the filenames and paths of images within the data package.

·        observations.csv: Table of observations of species (or lack thereof) derived from the images.

·        events.csv: Table linking observation events to media.

·        media folder: Folder containing a subfolder for each deployment, which contains the raw images from that deployment.

Some additional notes, specific to these datasets:

·        The deployment table contains “deployment tags”, which specify extra information about the deployment, formatted as key:value pairs, separated by pipes (‘|’). Of particular interest for these datasets are the tags that state lens angle, specify habitat type and identify paired cameras (e.g. to assess differences in species detections between cameras with regular and wide lens, respectively).

·        In all three pilots, most observations are linked to sequences of images recorded within 120 seconds of each other. Hence, observations in these datasets are generally linked to an “event” (i.e. a sequence of images) rather than to an individual media file. We have added an events table to more easily link observation events and the media items that make up that event. This is an extension of the camera trap DP standard.

·        All annotations were verified and checked by a human expert, even in cases where an observation is listed as being made by an AI algorithm.

·        Whether or not an image is included in the data package is indicated by the ‘filePublic’ column in the media table. All raw images are included except for those where humans were detected. Images in which humans were detected have a ‘filePublic’ value of FALSE. Although the current location of these files within the Agouti platform (https://www.agouti.eu/) is recorded in the ‘filePath’ column, these files cannot be accessed. The ‘fileName’ of these filles is the original filename they possessed when uploaded to Agouti.

·        Where ‘filePublic’ is TRUE, the `filePath` given is relative to the root of the data package (e.g. ‘media/<deployment>’) and the `fileName` of the file is the current name of the file within the data package (‘<mediaID>.JPG’). The full path of a media file within the data package can therefore be obtained by combining the ‘filePath’ and ‘fileName’ columns, in rows where `filePublic` is TRUE.

More details about individual metadata fields in the Camtrap DP format can be found on https://camtrap-dp.tdwg.org/.