Collecting more pest monitoring data with Trapview MOBILE

Trapview Automated pest monitoring system provides an early warning platform by utilizing automated traps that regularly send data to the Trapview cloud. There further advanced functionalities such as automated pest recognition, manual review of the pictures taken automatically and pest occurrence statistics are provided. 

In the fields/orchards where matrix monitoring concept is being implemented the consequent effort to increase the number of monitoring points (traps per acre) leads to the Trapview automated traps being combined with conventional traps. This results in a need for a tool that allows the end users to gather data manually and keep all pest monitoring data in one place together with the data from the Trapview automated traps. 

Therefore, the Trapview MOBILE application was introduced to enable users to take pictures of sticky plates of the conventional - “manual” - traps, to add the data about numbers of the insects caught on the sticky plates and to upload all the data to the Trapview system, where it is shown next to the data collected from automated traps. 

What's special about the Trapview MOBILE application

What makes the Trapview MOBILE application different from the conventional scouting apps is that apart from enabling the users to enter pest related data from manual traps the users also get an overview and management options of their Trapview automated traps together with detailed pest occurrence charts and statistics.

Overview and management of the Trapview automated traps

After login to the application the main screen with an interactive map shows up. It displays the locations of user's automated traps marked with the trap icon and the manual monitoring points marked with the mobile phone icon. Below the map there is a device list displaying traps and mobile monitoring points with the thumbnails of the last uploaded images from the trap or mobile phone. 

By choosing a particular automated trap (the name starts with Sxxxxx) the last uploaded automatically captured image shows. You can browse the previously taken images by swiping to the left or to the right.

By pressing on a cogwheel icon by the name of an automated trap in the main screen device list a menu shows up providing two options: Pest chart and Set parameters

Pest chart

By pressing the Pest chart option, the users get an overview of the pest occurrences over a selected period (7 days by default) per day and total number of new pests in that period. The bars in the pest chart show the number of pests detected on a particular day, while the red curve is showing the difference in number and dynamics of pest occurrences per day. 

Below the pest chart there is a Pest table showing in numbers what is shown in bars in the Pest chart above it. The users can choose which columns should be displayed in the table depending on what they would like to see.

Setting parameters of an automated trap

By pressing on a Set parameters option a dialog screen shows different options for setting the parameters of the selected automated trap:

• data network settings (e.g. SMS report numbers, network operator username and password, etc.),
• image capture time setting,
• telemetry report time setting,
• image compression ratio, etc. 

The image capture time setting is especially useful for synchronizing the monitoring timings with the time of the day when the targeted pest is most active. 

How to input data from a manual monitoring point

Pressing the cogwheel icon by the mobile monitoring point (the name starts with MPxxx) in the main screen the  option of Upload image shows. By choosing it a dialog screen shows providing the options of taking a picture at the very location (the button with the camera icon) or uploading the picture from the gallery (the button with the picture icon). Below, there is also a field for entering the number of pests counted at the monitoring point and additional space for taking notes. When finished users need to press the Upload button to send the data to the Trapview system, where users can access it and manage it in the Trapview WEB application on their PC.

Setting a new manual monitoring point

While in the field you can also set a new monitoring point on the go. Simply by pressing the Actions button on the top right of the main screen a New monitoring point option shows up. All users need to do is enter the name of the monitoring point and they are done, since the geoposition is received automatically by the app.

The Trapview MOBILE application is a great monitoring tool not only allowing having all pest related data in one place, but also combining early warning system with standard monitoring methods and consequently providing even better decision support data input for optimized insecticide application. 

May all your dreams be caught

Best practices for refining insect recognition with Trapview

Every picture taken with the Trapview automated pest monitoring system is processed and analyzed by an automatic pest recognition module which identifies, counts and marks targeted pests.

Automatically recognized pests are marked with yellow rectangles. Since throughout the Trapview applications a yellow colour means your attention is needed, the same goes for the yellow rectangles in the automatically processed images. A chance that the automated readings are not optimal always exists. It could happen that some of the targeted pests are being missed or that some of non-targeted pests are being marked and thus blurring the statistics.  

One of the key advantages of the Trapview automated image recognition module is its ability to learn, or better, remember user input (markings) and it takes it into consideration at the next time when automated recognition and marking is done on the same sticky plate. Therefore, we can identify three crucial reasons why teaching the system by doing manual review of the automated pest markings on regular basis is beneficial for you:

•         getting a clear picture about situation in the field in real-time,
•         getting accurate statistics on pest occurrence and dynamics,
•         spending less time reviewing with every new picture taken.

The manual review is done in the image editor initiated by clicking the “Mark pests” in the options menu.

The sample image above shows that one pest above the pheromone is not marked, a wrong marking of an intruder right next to it and several false markings, where only wing dust is present, but there are no insects there. There are also a few markings including two insects in the same rectangle.

The picture below shows the process of manual review and marking. By selecting a square we can resize it by dragging one of the blue dots in any direction. The false markings are erased by selecting the rectangle and pressing the icon in the toolbox below the  picture. The markings including two insects at the same time are first resized to include only one insect and a new rectangle is created for the second insect (see the pair of insects to the right from the pheromone). 

Editor enables several editing tools and actions:

• Select : with a click onto the marking square you select it
• Move: click into the square and drag it
• Resize: select it and drag one side or corner
• Delete : select and click Delete Element icon (backspace/delete)
• Mark pest : select Pest tool (or press R key) and select the area
• Duplicate : select and click Duplicate Element icon (or press D key)
• Undo (key Z)
• Redo (key Y)
• Layers: You can choose the layer to edit, hide/view

Be sure to save changes before you close the image editor. Once the image is reviewed, the rectangles will turn green as well as the pest frequency bars in the Trapview statistics charts. 

In the picture below you can see that in the picture taken a few days later there are a few new yellow markings indicating new catches. The intruder above the pheromone is not automatically marked and the false markings are not present anymore. The pairs of insects insects initially marked with the same rectangle remain ungrouped. 

This is how the manual review of automated markings has taught the Trapview automated pest recognition to include the user remarks in the later images of the same sticky plate and improved the accuracy.

For more information on how to do the manual review you can always refer to the help menu within the Trapview application.

A little pest causing great damage: Mediterranean fruit fly – Ceratitis capitata

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Ceratitis capitata is highly polyphagous and, as such, uses the various hosts in its environment as stepping stones, moving from one to another as fruit mature throughout the season.” This gives Medfly the ability to destroy an area’s production of many fruits.

The Medfly originated in Africa. It has since spread throughout the Mediterranean region, southern Europe, the Middle East, western Australia, South and Central America, and Hawaii. In general, it is found in most tropical and subtropical areas of the world.

Ceratitis capitata is a highly invasive species. It has a high economic impact, affecting production, control costs and market access.

The adult medfly is 4 to 5mm long, (about two-thirds the size of a housefly). The general colour of the body is yellowish with a tinge of brown, especially the abdomen, legs, and some of the markings on the wings. The oval shaped abdomen is clothed on the upper surface with fine, scattered black bristles, and has two narrow, transverse, light coloured bands on the basal half. The female can be distinguished by its long ovipositor at the apex of the abdomen.

Adult moth

Images of Ceratitis Capitata captured with Trapview FLY system:




More information is available here.