LONDON, July 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Leading UK specialist mobile marketing agency, Incentivated is delighted to announce the launch of "The Dragon Finder": a smartphone app which allows people to identify amphibian and reptile species within the UK, record their sightings and find out more about individual species.
Developed for Froglife (froglife.org), a UK-based reptile and amphibian conservation charity, the app is based upon Froglife's existing database and census data of species known to reside in the UK.
The app - which has been initially launched for Apple (iOS) and Android devices (search for "Dragon Finder" in your app store), along with a mobile website for other devices - provides users with useful species information, and allows members of the public to assist the charity with helping to map and understand the distribution of species across the UK.
Victoria Ogilvy, Froglife: "We are delighted to have this app and mobile website live and available. It's critical for us to have an accurate understanding of the geographic spread of these species to ensure their welfare and to know that we have healthy populations. These 'dragons' play important roles in the food chain and life cycles of a raft of organisms, and quickly and accurately identifying changes in species populations can be important in identifying wider environmental issues.
We are hopeful that providing this quick and easy census-taking information via devices (mobile phones) that are fundamental to people's everyday lives, we can encourage people of all ages, backgrounds and levels of ability to assist us with species recording.
By using mobile technology people are more likely to upload their data because this can be done on the spot - even in remote areas - and mobile location technology, such as GPS, can allow highly accurate mapping of sightings as well."
The app is part of a new Froglife Trust project called Dragon Finder which has been funded by a £472,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The project is enabling the reptile and amphibian charity to help people find, identify and map these tiny dragons in London. The four and half year scheme will involve thousands of local people and see volunteers recording newts, lizards and snakes in the city, improving habitats for them and celebrating these secretive animals.
Being able to identify a little dragon at the point it has been spotted, rather than having to wait until you get back home to log on to a website, by which time the details may be a bit 'hazy' is seen as important in increasing the accuracy of our knowledge of the populations of these species..
Jason Cross, Marketing Director, Incentivated: "The very unpredictable nature of spotting wildlife means that being able to use your phone to quickly snap a photo, fill in a simple form and send it off when you are out and about, taking advantage of inherent accurate location identification, makes this such an intuitive idea, and a great way to help keep tabs on the UK's wildlife populations.
For such a public-focussed small charity, mobile is an obviously appropriate way for them to connect and engage. This is a clear example of using Lottery funding to provide a service that supports the core needs of the charity, rather than creating an app for the sake of having an app."
About Froglife
Froglife (http://www.froglife.org) is a national wildlife charity dedicated to the conservation of the UK's amphibians and reptiles - frogs, toads, newts, snakes and lizards - and the habitats on which they depend.
Since 1989 Froglife has been at the heart of efforts to conserve native amphibians and reptiles. Throughout this time we have initiated a number of national and regional projects, and remained a central voice for public advice on issues surrounding reptile and amphibian conservation. Froglife's work falls into three strands: on the ground conservation, environmental education and communication (the provision of advice/information).
About the Heritage Lottery Fund
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported almost 35,000 projects, with more than £5.3billion across the UK including more than £1billion to projects in London alone.
About Incentivated Ltd
Incentivated (incentivated.com) is an independent technology company with 10 years' experience operating exclusively in the mobile marketing services sector.
We help our international client base engage with their customers by designing, developing and delivering integrated acquisition, retention (CRM) and transaction (mCommerce) campaigns and services for mobile.
Our proprietary technology and specialist staff are well positio ned to help brands, the public sector and charities to develop everything from enterprise messaging (SMS & MMS) through mobile internet sites, to server-side software or handset applications, including web-apps, for 'smartphones' and feature-phones.
We also provide strategic, creative and technical advice for the use of mobile by businesses to raise awareness, deliver marketing ROI and provide customer service, as well as other managed services.
SOURCE Incentivated
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