Biodiversity in Transition Zones

Formerly OAAK - Open Agrobiodiversity Accounting Kit

nicetrails + Genomic Gastronomy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6IgrDyC8EI

What is BITZ?

BITZ (Biodiversity in Transition Zones) is a digital tool for identifying and learning about the organisms around you. It's a participatory toolkit for noticing, recording, and sharing biodiversity that thrives in transition zones—places where urban and rural, wild and cultivated ecosystems intermingle (peri-urban farms, pocket parks, logistics edges, and other interstitial landscapes).

live → bitz.tools

Why it matters

• Transition zones are overlooked: Traditional biodiversity informatics focuses on wilderness and conservation areas, while urban informatics focuses on cities. BITZ highlights the messy, hybrid spaces in between where species co-exist and adapt.
• Community-generated evidence: Locally gathered records build awareness, inform stewardship, and can feed broader scientific and cultural conversations.

What we made

• A customizable data collection kit usable by untrained peers for field observation.
• Standardized, open datasets structured with Darwin Core (DwC) to ensure interoperability.
• Pipelines to wider ecosystems like GBIF and communities of practice.
• Cultural outputs: data can drive exhibitions, education, citizen science, and interactive media (e.g., an inventory of species found at a specific site).

How it works

Take a photograph of a plant, insect, or animal that you see outside, and the tool will guide you towards additional species quests, making cultural and ecological connections along the way.

1. Photo-based identification: Capture organisms in the field using the digital tool.
2. Species quests: The tool suggests instructions and activities for looking, listening, and identifying organisms that populate the specific landscape.
3. Data collection: Observations are collected via simple workflows anyone can use.
4. Normalization: Data is structured with Darwin Core (DwC) to ensure interoperability.
5. Publication: Datasets are published as open data, ready for contribution to GBIF.
6. Remix: Raw data can be transformed into multiple formats—interactive inventories, maps, prints, exhibitions, and multi-sensory experiences.

BITZ can be used as a biodiversity storytelling and data-gathering tool for organizations, governments, and activists, helping them facilitate community-driven events that bring people to the field, start conversations, and generate public datasets. The base tool is free, and bespoke projects are available as a commercial offering.

What we did (Nicetrails + Center for Genomic Gastronomy)

• Co-developed the participatory method and data schema.