{"id":457,"date":"2014-03-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/inside_microsoft_research\/2014\/03\/05\/zootracer-setting-a-track-record\/"},"modified":"2016-07-20T07:30:24","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T14:30:24","slug":"zootracer-setting-a-track-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/zootracer-setting-a-track-record\/","title":{"rendered":"ZooTracer: Setting a Track Record"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"posted-by\">Posted by <span class=\"author\">Rob Knies<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net\/media\/TNBlogsFS\/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com\/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles\/00\/00\/00\/90\/35\/Zebras2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 10px; border: 0px currentColor; vertical-align: top;\" title=\"Zebras\" src=\"https:\/\/msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net\/media\/TNBlogsFS\/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com\/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles\/00\/00\/00\/90\/35\/Zebras2.jpg\" alt=\"Zebras\" width=\"600\" \/><span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>People love to watch animals. That\u2019s why zoos exist. That\u2019s why photographic safaris command princely sums. That\u2019s why cat videos have become an unstoppable force.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" title=\"Lucas Joppa\" href=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/en-us\/people\/lujoppa\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Lucas Joppa<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> loves to watch animals, too, but his motivation includes an additional dimension. A scientist in the <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" title=\"Computational Ecology and Environmental Sciences\" href=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/en-us\/groups\/ecology\/\" target=\"_blank\">Computational Ecology and Environmental Sciences<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (CEES) group at <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" title=\"Microsoft Research Cambridge\" href=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/en-us\/labs\/cambridge\/\" target=\"_blank\">Microsoft Research Cambridge<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, Joppa heads the <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" title=\"Conservation Science Research Unit\" href=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/en-us\/projects\/conservation\/\" target=\"_blank\">Conservation Science Research Unit<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, which focuses on his key interests: science, policy, and tools and technology.<\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 24, Joppa and his CEES colleagues took yet another step toward melding a couple of those interests by offering for download <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" title=\"ZooTracer\" href=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/en-us\/downloads\/c54fe194-120d-43e8-b6b6-621e8f9841c3\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">ZooTracer<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, a desktop tool that can be used to trace animal movement by using consumer video equipment. The product of collaboration between CEES and the <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" title=\"Computer Vision\" href=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/en-us\/groups\/vision\/\" target=\"_blank\">Computer Vision<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> group, also from Microsoft Research Cambridge, the ZooTracer download offers three distinct benefits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is easy to use.<\/li>\n<li>It can take video from anywhere.<\/li>\n<li>The user can quickly modify the results\u2014helping the software learn how to track any object.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><object type=\"application\/x-silverlight-2\" width=\"320\" height=\"246\"><param name=\"source\" value=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/apps\/video\/ClientBin\/EmbeddedPlayer.xap\" \/><param name=\"enableHtmlAccess\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"initParams\" value=\"id=210068,start=0,end=196\" \/><param name=\"background\" value=\"white\" \/><param name=\"minRuntimeVersion\" value=\"3.0.40818.0\" \/><param name=\"autoUpgrade\" value=\"true\" \/><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"http:\/\/go.microsoft.com\/fwlink\/?LinkID=149156&v=3.0.40818.0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Get Microsoft Silverlight\" src=\"http:\/\/go.microsoft.com\/fwlink\/?LinkId=108181\" \/><span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/object><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope people use it to track animals in video footage,\u201d Joppa states. \u201cDoing so is an important step in addressing fundamental ecological and environmental problems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor example, bee populations are in drastic decline. What plants do they pollinate\u2014and why? That is a question pretty relevant to the production of food for human consumption, but actually watching bees fly around and trying to track their plant preferences and the flight paths they take is a pretty difficult task. ZooTracer allows scientists to collect these very easily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ZooTracer software can provide accurate tracking of multiple, unmarked, interacting animals in arbitrary video footage. It also can cope with variations in lighting, camera movement, and object appearance\u2014and it does so regardless of the type of recording device or habitat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost other video-tracking software packages require the user to have thought quite hard about what they were going to do before they did it,\u201d Joppa observes. \u201cFor example, using extreme background subtraction algorithms allows for a heavily automated object detection and tracking process. But the actual collection of video footage appropriate for such algorithms can become a trying affair\u2014and it certainly doesn\u2019t work for most field biologists!<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net\/media\/TNBlogsFS\/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com\/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles\/00\/00\/00\/90\/35\/4657.Lucas_Joppa_flop.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 10px; border: 0px currentColor; float: right;\" title=\"Lucas Joppa\" src=\"https:\/\/msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net\/media\/TNBlogsFS\/prod.evol.blogs.technet.com\/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles\/00\/00\/00\/90\/35\/4657.Lucas_Joppa_flop.jpg\" alt=\"Lucas Joppa\" width=\"300\" \/><span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> \u201cWe have thrown that thinking by the wayside and said that if we allow the user to input a small amount of information about the system, then perhaps we can make a tool significantly more generic than currently exists. So, have some footage taken with your smartphone with shaky hands and a strangely lit background? No problem! ZooTracer should be able to handle it, and if it doesn\u2019t, you are able to modify the algorithm\u2019s parameters through the user interface to attempt to make it work for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In short, ZooTracer represents a leap forward in enabling the collection and analysis of behavior, not just for laboratory experiments, but also for biologists in the field. It will prove helpful for any scientist interested in tracking objects in video.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really intrigued by the many other, non-ecological, uses I\u2019m sure people will find for the software,\u201d Joppa says. \u201cPutting people back in the loop and allowing them to decide what they want to track should lead to some pretty interesting scientific applications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That, often enough, is the hallmark of successful research: Not only has it been abstracted to a level where it works for the problem at hand, but its design also is sufficiently flexible to inspire a class of entirely new challenges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust because we happen to be interested in animal movement doesn\u2019t mean you have to be,\u201d Joppa enthuses. \u201cWe used animal movement as our motivation for completing the tool\u2014and it turned out to be a fantastic collaboration between one of the world\u2019s leading computer-vision teams here at Microsoft Research, led by <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" title=\"Andrew Fitzgibbon\" href=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/en-us\/um\/people\/awf\/\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Fitzgibbon<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, and our own computational-ecology group.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Posted by Rob Knies People love to watch animals. That\u2019s why zoos exist. That\u2019s why photographic safaris command princely sums. That\u2019s why cat videos have become an unstoppable force. Lucas Joppa loves to watch animals, too, but his motivation includes an additional dimension. A scientist in the Computational Ecology and Environmental Sciences (CEES) group at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30766,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194469,194478],"tags":[194660,200835,201021,186897,201091,201369,204813,196256,196435,204483,204799],"research-area":[13562,198583],"msr-region":[],"msr-event-type":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-promo-type":[],"msr-podcast-series":[],"class_list":["post-457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biology","category-ecology-and-environment","tag-andrew-fitzgibbon","tag-cees","tag-computational-ecology-and-environmental-sciences","tag-computer-vision","tag-conservation-science-research-unit","tag-download","tag-ecology-and-environment","tag-lucas-joppa","tag-microsoft-research-cambridge","tag-video-tracking","tag-zootracer","msr-research-area-computer-vision","msr-research-area-ecology-environment","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_event_details":{"start":"","end":"","location":""},"podcast_url":"","podcast_episode":"","msr_research_lab":[],"msr_impact_theme":[],"related-publications":[],"related-downloads":[],"related-videos":[],"related-academic-programs":[],"related-groups":[],"related-projects":[171297],"related-events":[],"related-researchers":[],"msr_type":"Post","byline":"","formattedDate":"March 5, 2014","formattedExcerpt":"Posted by Rob Knies People love to watch animals. That\u2019s why zoos exist. That\u2019s why photographic safaris command princely sums. That\u2019s why cat videos have become an unstoppable force. Lucas Joppa loves to watch animals, too, but his motivation includes an additional dimension. A scientist&hellip;","locale":{"slug":"en_us","name":"English","native":"","english":"English"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30766"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235599,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457\/revisions\/235599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"msr-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-region?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"msr-event-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-event-type?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"msr-promo-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-promo-type?post=457"},{"taxonomy":"msr-podcast-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-podcast-series?post=457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}