Overview
Restoration and conservation initiatives (e.g., projects or programs of NGOs, social enterprises, private companies, or local to national governments) use the platform to document and display their progress and impact. They use explorer.land to tell their impact story transparently, to immerse stakeholders in place, and to engage with supporters.
Funders, purpose-driven businesses, sustainable brands, and buyers of forest goods and services (including carbon) use the platform to find transparent and interesting projects to support and collaborate with.
Explorer.land is a map-based platform showcasing restoration and conservation initiatives in a transparent yet engaging way. Restoration and conservation initiatives use explorer.land to document and display their progress via interactive maps and geo-located content (e.g., news posts and photos). Functions such as the call-to-action button facilitate immediate engagement with supporters. Funders, purpose-driven businesses, and buyers of forest goods and services use the platform to find interesting projects to support and collaborate with. The interactive home page, which includes different search possibilities, allows for easy navigation and filtering of projects according to criteria. Thematic global data layers, 3D views, and the integration of high-resolution drone or satellite imagery support transparency, engagement, and immersion in an initiative’s context and impact.
Think of it as a PowerPoint presentation that uses maps instead of slides!
A map-based project presentation displays and connects all sites of a restoration or conservation initiative (e.g., tree nurseries, education centers, reforestation areas, conservation sites, agroforestry production) and links them to relevant content. Initiatives can tell their story in space and time (e.g., showcase what kind of trees have been planted where and when, how forest cover has evolved over time, etc.). They can post news and photos and link them to specific sites. All content is localized and interactively connected to a map. 3D views provide for an immersive geographical experience of each site, as well as the possibility of integrating high-resolution drone and satellite imagery.
Map-based project presentations include key facts such as project type (e.g., reforestation, agroforestry), location of sites, important dates (e.g., start date), status, and other descriptors. Geo-located news posts and photos can link to different site locations. Content is structured via the tabs menu: Home, About, News, Sites, Partners, Sponsors, SDGs, Goods, Contact. All involved stakeholder groups (e.g., partners, sponsors) can also be linked to specific site locations.
Users can select from a variety of satellite base maps such as Mapbox, Esri, and Bing. We integrate third party thematic global data layers provided by Global Resources Watch (e.g., forest cover), GLOBIL (drone maps), TerraPulse (forest cover, biomass). We are continuously adding new thematic data layers so do check out our library often.
Benefits
For projects:
- Manage info & communicate story
- Immerse audience with 3D views
- Integrate high-resolution geo images
- Demonstrate transparency
- Gain visibility: potential supporters find you
- Promote forest goods & services
For funders & supporters
- Find projects with search criteria
- Explore transparent projects
- Engage directly
- Add your organizational profile
- Communicate your support
- Grow the restoration movement
explorer.land is a map-based platform for restoration and conservation initiatives, as well as associated stakeholders, that caters to different needs simultaneously. It combines communication functions (e.g., news posts) with data (e.g., forest cover across space & time) on top of beautiful interactive maps with 3D views.
For projects
Initiatives can use their map-based project presentations to document, display, and communicate their impact transparently. They can also use them to engage with stakeholders through geo-located news posts and features such as the call-to-action button.
For funders
Furthermore, restoration and conservation projects can attract funders by offering branded map-based presentation spaces for businesses to showcase their support.
Search engine for projects
In addition, explorer.land functions as a repository and search engine for anyone interested in finding and exploring transparent restoration and conservation initiatives. Funders, purpose-driven businesses, and buyers of forest goods and services can navigate the global interactive map or use the different search criteria to filter and find projects.
Summary
explorer.land is a restoration & conservation projects repository; a search engine for projects; a data, communication, and networking tool with fundraising capabilities; a platform that fosters transparency.
Every initiative can connect all project sites and all involved organizations directly on the map. These connections and networks are visualized simply but effectively in their geographical context. 3D views provide for an immersive geographical experience of each site, as well as the possibility of integrating high-resolution drone and satellite imagery. There is no need to create different presentations or lists for each project site or organization.
If an initiative has more than one project, where each project has multiple sites, all can be connected through the landscape mode and visualized with the landscape view. See some examples here. Similarly, if many organizations and their projects form part of a larger, multi-stakeholder network or alliance, this network can also be visualized seamlessly on the map. See the example of the Global Rewilding Alliance here.
Using explorer.land
You find projects by free exploration of the map or by filtering by search categories. Search categories include project type (e.g., agroforestry, conservation, restoration), goods produced (e.g., coffee, timber, herbs), country of project, and participating organizations.
No! explorer.land has been designed for non-GIS experts. We have put a lot of effort into an intuitive user design. Should you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to contact us.
Engagement
explorer.land makes all project stakeholders visible. Show project locations and organizations as well as communities that are active on the ground. Furthermore, each project can show associated organizations e.g. multistakeholder constellations from science, standards, private market actors, funders, donors and investors.
Projects published and listed on explorer.land increase their visibility and are easily found by funders. Visibility can be increased by using the social sharing function and the call-to-action button to guide the prospects to your fundraising materials.
Furthermore, the map-based project presentation serves as exciting and beautiful communication material, that allows for presenting remote projects in-depth during fundraising events or in one-to-one meetings and video calls.
Project profiles that are complete and have recent news posts will appear on top of the search page and will get more page views.
Yes, project and organization profiles are optimized to be found by search engines.
Yes! Projects as well as organizations can be linked to each other. Projects can be aggregated by organizations, multistakeholder organizations, or by landscapes (geographies).
Satellite imagery
explorer.land comes with several satellite base maps such as from Bing, Mapbox, and Esri. However, based on your need, additional satellite or drone imagery can be integrated into your project presentation. Please contact us for more information.
The satellite base maps are updated by data providers such as Bing, Mapbox, and Esri. Usually, the satellite imagery is between 1-3 years old. However, depending on location and provider the imagery can be older.
In addition to the satellite base maps high-resolution and recent imagery for your project location can be integrated on demand.
A growing library of global data layers such as deforestation, forest fragmentation, tree cover, soil carbon, and tree biomass density can be selected to show the context and impact of projects.
Monitoring and impact
There are various functions to document and monitor project activities:
- show the exact geolocation of a project, indicate land use, and integrate attribute data to every location,
- exactly place geolocated news posts with a time stamp on top of your project map to describe and document any field activity or observation,
- integrate high-resolution drone or satellite imagery and show before and after of e.g. planting activities,
- activate Thematic Layers to show the impact via a growing number of global data layers such as deforestation monitoring.
Multimedia
Yes!
Yes! Project maps can be embedded simply via iframe into any website.
Plans and pricing
Register via the registration form. You will receive access credentials and can start building project presentations with the free plan.
Regular plans do not have any set-up costs. All rates are monthly and only for usage.
You can pay via wire transfer or PayPal.
We define ourselves as Ecopreneurs. Revenues are used to further develop the platform and to enable organizations with little budgets to use explorer.land at a little fee or even free of charge. Overall revenues are used to make projects become more transparent.
As a student, you can apply for a Professional Plan free of charge. Send us a copy of your student ID card and we will activate your license.
Company
The company behind explorer.land is OpenForests. We see ourselves as Ecopreneurs with high ethical standards (read our manifesto). But we are not an NGO. In the fees, our clients provide for our services we see an appreciation of the value we provide while it enables us to provide this value again and again.