Project Noah harnesses the power of smart phones to collect ecological data and help preserve global biodiversity one photo at a time.

How does it work? You can download the Project Noah app for free on any iPhone or Android phone. Then, all you have to do is create an account and start snapping photos of local wildlife.

If you're a city dweller like me, I know what you're thinking -- "Who wants to see a bunch of photos of squirrels and caterpillars?"  I downloaded the app to give it a test run and was pleasantly surprised at the wide variety of animals documented. You could spend hours exploring the map and scrolling through photo submissions. Check out the map below – people from all over the world are using Project Noah!

Project Noah was developed in NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). The project began as an experiment to build a fun, location-based mobile app that encouraged people to reconnect with nature. The name “Noah” was cleverly inspired by Noah’s Ark. The over-arching goal is to create a powerful database that can be used as an educational tool for wildlife awareness and preservation.

The app has certainly garnered a lot of attention since its official launch back in February 2010. It earned a spot in the first Startl Mobile Design Boost and won a $50,000 prize from the “Breakthrough in Mobile Learning” competition by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. Project Noah even boasts National Geographic as an investor.

The founding members of Project Noah are Yasser Ansari, Martin Ceperley, Peter Horvath, and Bruno Kruse. Collectively, their backgrounds cover a wide range of subjects including molecular biology, photography, software development, and software hacking.

The next time you go on a walk or hike in your neighborhood, use Project Noah to share the creatures you encounter!

Source: Project Noah