Madrid and New York-based company Vizzuality has received a €300k grant ($392k) to develop data visualization mapping related to biodiversity. The money comes from a new European research project called EU BON (Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network).
Vizzuality is one of 30 international companies that have been awarded a grant from this €9 million fund ($11.8m), which is aimed at advancing biodiversity knowledge and make it accessible for scientists, policy makers, and the public.
This is where Vizzuality comes into play, as it will use this funding to further develop its cloud-powered database CartoDB in the context of biodiversity informatics. As you may know, CartoDB lets users “create beautiful data-driven maps,” which can be applied to several fields. For instance, it can be used to analyze endangered species and spread the word about them:
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For data visualization geeks, it’s definitely interesting to see this technique applied to environmental questions. Vizzuality CEO Javier de la Torre hopes it can make a difference in this field:
“A sustainable future cannot be achieved without conserving biodiversity. To do so we need better data, better analysis and better visualizations of where species are and how endangered they are. We feel that this is both a great opportunity to make CartoDB better and meet the demands of those scientists working on this crucial issue.”
It is also encouraging to see the European Union embrace and fund data analysis. It confirms that visualization is about much more than general infographics; it can also serve as a powerful assessment and decision-making tool.
Image credit: Thinkstock
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