NatureGate.com Offers Visitors the Wonders of Nature
More Than 400,000 Photos of Finnish Wildlife: Access and Usage are Free
HELSINKI, Finland. March 23, 2009 - NatureGate (www.naturegate.net), a Finnish online service, has been designed to educate and incite curiosity in visitors through its library of more than 400,000 photographs of birds, butterflies and plants found in Finland. The library, which also provides information on each species, has been carefully compiled over two decades by wildlife photographers/ documentarians Eija and Jouko Lehmuskallio, and includes species found in the Nordic Countries, Europe and North America. Access to the library and use of information and photos are available at no charge, and all information is available in English, Finnish, Swedish, German, French and Spanish. Plans to expand information and photos of birds, butterflies and plants from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia are in place for summer 2009, followed by species from Germany, France, Spain, India, Argentina and the U.K.
"Finland is one of the top countries in the world in identifying species, and we are actively working to do more. The idea behind NatureGate is to offer a broad set of images to help everyone to learn to about nature and identify species wherever they may travel," says Eija Lehmuskallio.
The site features an internationally patented identification tool that enables users to easily enter information about where and when they observed a type of plant or bird, along with details of its color, shape and size. With every added feature, the tool narrows down the list of possible species, until only several illustrated examples are left for users to compare and identify. The identification tool, currently available for plants only, will be expanded for use with birds and butterflies in May 2009.
Additionally, future plans will allow individuals to send in images and observations together with GPS data, which upon verification will be used to study changes in the habitats of plants and species caused by climate change. Another goal is the establishment of the service in school systems from elementary to college level. Development of the service has been done in collaboration with researchers from both the University of Helsinki and CICERO Learning.
For more information about NatureGate, visit www.naturegate.net. More information about VisitFinland can be found at www.visitfinland.com.
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