GIS Mapping

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Learn about how GIS Mapping techniques are informing snow leopard conservation and research efforts.

Scientists are using a powerful type of computer software called GIS to develop the most comprehensive information to date on where snow leopards live. This effort will result in an incredibly detailed map of snow leopard range to help guide research and conservation programs. Researchers around the world will be able to add to the map for many years in the future as our knowledge of snow leopards continues to grow.

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How does GIS mapping work?

GIS, or Geographic Information Systems, is computer software that helps researchers make maps and analyze many layers of data. GIS is used widely today in scientific studies, urban planning, and a variety of other fields.

Snow leopard experts from around the world are currently using GIS technology to create an "expert-based model" of snow leopard range. They are compiling information that many different researchers have collected, sometimes going back many years, about snow leopard habitat, sightings, and sign. All of this information will be put onto a single electronic map that scientists can share, analyze, and continue to update with new information about snow leopards.

Similar expert-based models have been made of tiger and jaguar range by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

What questions about snow leopards can scientists answer with GIS mapping?

GIS mapping will help scientists understand known, previous, and potential snow leopard range--where the cats live now, where they used to live, and where they might be but we don’t know for sure. It can also be used to predict where snow leopards should be found, based on the physical attributes of known snow leopard range. This can help point researchers to the remote locations where little is known about the cats, but the GIS analyses tell us should be good cat range. Research in snow leopard habitat is very expensive and difficult due to its remote and rugged nature, so GIS can help focus limited research funds on the most promising locations.

Over the years, there have been various attempts to map snow leopard range, but past efforts have relied on models of snow leopard habitat based on incomplete or low quality habitat information. Very little validation (ground-truthing) of the early maps was possible and very limited “expert knowledge” was available as input to the maps. Today GIS uses vastly improved habitat data from satellite imagery and we have a broad network of experts providing field data. The current project aims to collect comprehensive information throughout the cat's range, and assign degrees of confidence to each piece of information.

How can the knowledge from GIS mapping help save snow leopards?

According to the Snow Leopard Survival Strategy, developing better information about snow leopard range and distribution is a key research need. This information is crucial to the cat's survival because it will help the Snow Leopard Trust and other organizations decide where to focus research and conservation programs.

For example, scientists might decide to look for snow leopards in an area that is thought to provide good habitat but where snow leopards have not been sighted in recent years. A conservation effort might be launched to protect a small area of snow leopard habitat that acts as a "bridge" between two larger populations.

What have scientists learned so far from GIS mapping?

In the mid-1990s, Rodney Jackson, the Snow Leopard Trust's first conservation director, collaborated with Don Hunter of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a GIS model of snow leopard range. Their model incorporated measures of elevation, ruggedness of terrain, and distance from towns to yield a map of good snow leopard habitat.

Their model shows that GIS technology is useful for gathering and displaying information about snow leopard range. However, it is still only a model--it describes where snow leopards might be or could be expected to be. The current GIS project will yield comprehensive information about where snow leopards actually are.

What are the next steps in GIS mapping?

Paper maps of most snow leopard range countries have been distributed to experts in snow leopard countries and around the world. These experts are currently marking up the maps with each location they have seen a snow leopard or snow leopard sign or received a trustworthy report of the cat’s presence.

When the international experts complete this task, all of their information will be combined, and the boundaries of known occupied snow leopard habitat will be drawn. By the end of this year, the resulting map will be placed online, where researchers around the world will be able to view it and even submit additional information, so that our knowledge of where snow leopards live will continue to grow.

Who is working on GIS mapping?

The Snow Leopard Trust and theSnow Leopard Conservancy are collaborating to organize and fund the GIS mapping project.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is lending its GIS expertise. The Snow Leopard Network has providing additional funding, and served as the source of experts who are contributing to the mapping project.

Patricia Williams, a graduate student in geography at the University of Montana in Missoula, will compile all of the information submitted by the experts, input the data to the GIS program, and produce the expert maps. She will then place the maps online for review, comments and continual updating.