Karlsruhe-based company Disy digitizes the wildlife population in Germany

Cover picture: Daniel Buckle (Unsplash)

How many deer are there in Baden-Württemberg? How many hares are there in Saxony? And how many wild boars are up to mischief in Hesse? The answer to these questions is provided by the German Hunting Association’s wildlife recording portal WILD, which is based on software from the Karlsruhe-based IT company Disy.

In this case, WILD stands for Wildlife Information System of the Federal States of Germany. The data is collected by the hunting community. The Karlsruhe-based IT company Disy Informationssysteme GmbH is responsible for digitizing the data records and displaying them in overview maps. The new portal is based on Disy’s Cadenza software.

“By displaying the data on the maps, it can now be viewed and used more easily,” says Disy Marketing Manager Wassilios Kazakos. The DJV has been recording game populations since 2001. Previously, the DJV’s annual surveys were only prepared in tabular form, sent to members and posted on the Internet. “Working with these pdf files was very cumbersome. That’s why we have tried to improve the presentation for users,” says Kazakos.

Clearer presentation and faster evaluation

Hunters, scientists and conservationists can now get a quick overview of the development of the populations of 17 different wild animal species in the individual regions thanks to a new form of presentation. The data can be analyzed in several different formats. The results can be displayed and saved as a diagram, table or map. According to Kazakos, the biggest advantage of the new portal is the clear presentation of the multi-year development.

“This allows you to find out very quickly whether the population of a certain animal species in a certain region has permanently decreased or increased over the past few years,” emphasizes the marketing expert. Scientists can then search for the causes of the developments and compare the findings from the wildlife portal with the data sets from industry or agriculture.

Many advantages for hunting, science and nature conservation

Conservationists are particularly interested in the development of invasive species. “When new species invade an ecosystem, this usually has an impact on the native fauna,” says Kazakos. This is why hunters and conservationists need to take countermeasures at an early stage and take measures to contain invasive species.

The new form of presentation also has advantages for the hunting association. In recent years, the high number of wild boar in particular has caused problems in agriculture. Thanks to the more precise analysis of the data records, the hunting of black pigs can now be more targeted. Disy has been working closely with the association for a number of years and has already launched a wildlife register at during this time.

Disy software Cadenza as the basis for new portal

For Disy, the intelligent evaluation of data is part of its daily business. The Cadenza software uses existing geodata to create maps for displaying environmental data and noise.

“A project like WILD is therefore a very good fit for us,” says Kazakos. Thanks to its extensive expertise, Disy could well become a pioneer in the development of a new standard for the use of public data. Disy was founded around 20 years ago as a classic spin-off from the Karlsruhe research landscape. The software company, which has its headquarters in Ludwig-Erhard-Allee, now employs 90 people and, according to the company, has an annual turnover of around 9 million euros.