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Tag: Conservation International

Three Compelling Story Maps for Agriculture Risk

We worked with Conservation International to upgrade their Vital Signs mapping applications. Using the Esri story map series template, we customized, optimized, and styled the atlases to reflect the mission and spirit of Vital Signs.

Vital Signs - Ghana Atlas

Designed to provide risk management tools for agricultural development, the atlases feature new functionality including the ability to:

  • Re-order layers
  • Adjust transparency
  • Download datasets
  • Share the maps on social media

“These atlases will enable planners and managers in Africa, who do not have GIS skills, to manipulate and overlay different data layers for planning and also provide access to relevant data from a wide variety of sources and sectors.”

Sandy Andelman, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist at Conservation International


The atlases provide a baseline and a synthesis of existing data on agriculture, ecosystems, and human well-being, on which Vital Signs is building. They also enable anyone to visualize where Vital Signs is collecting data, in the context of what is already known.

Vital Signs - Tanzania Atlas


“Blue Raster helped our team optimize Vital Signs’s Online Interactive Atlases and add user-friendly functionality. They understood our needs and lent the support our team needed in the critical months before release.” 

Kellee Koenig, GIS Manager at Conservation International


Blue Raster leveraged ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS desktop to build the atlases. Visit the site, and see how Blue Raster helped Conservation International leverage and customize a current Esri Story Map framework to provide three compelling risk management tools for the agriculture industry.

Spatial Analysis to Prioritize and Protect Marine Areas

Conservation International (CI) partnered with Blue Raster to analyze and map an enormous marine species dataset—an initiative that will help CI prioritize areas that should be targeted for biodiversity conservation.  Marine biodiversity faces growing threats from climate change, run-off pollution and overfishing.  Coral reefs, for example, contain more than 25 percent of all marine species, but 75 percent of the world’s coral reefs are now threatened by human activities.  To confront these threats, CI is working with governments and conservation organizations worldwide to establish marine protected areas (MPAs).

To analyze CI’s dataset of more than 11,000 marine species, Blue Raster indexed spatial data using the c-squares system and then aggregated c-square values to a global hexagon layer, which covered the planet in around 200,000 equal-area hexagons.  Each hexagon was analyzed for marine species richness and rarity.  In total the database contained over 230,850,000 rows.

Using ArcGIS Desktop with ArcPy and Esri’s Spatial Analyst Extension, Blue Raster produced a data analysis that allows CI to identify places in the ocean with the highest species richness and areas most threatened by human activities, as well as those that are most pristine.  CI can also use the analysis to map areas with the most endemic species.  These maps will help CI pinpoint locations with the greatest need for designation as a marine protected area.

Conservation International