#Success Story: "Waidmanns" App through Spacetech!

With the "Deermapper", the company Pentamap has a powerful app on the market for the digital hunting management of professional hunters and hunting enterprises.

Die App von Pentamap erleichtert die Jagd (über FFG)

The "Deermapper" app developed in Graz makes it easier to keep track of large hunting grounds.

There are about 120,000 hunters in Austria, about 500,000 in the entire D-A-CH area, and about 40,000 of them have already downloaded the management app "Deermapper" from the Google and Apple app stores onto their smartphones. The app, developed in Graz, makes it easier to keep track of large hunting grounds.

In the full version of "Deermapper", it is possible, among other things, to mark hunting ground boundaries, enter the exact locations of raised hide sites and also note sightings. Shooting reports can also be easily sent to the hunting authorities from the app - the shooting plans specified by the authorities for the respective hunting ground are thus always in view.

Florian Schöggl and Rainer Prüller from Pentamap: "We are extremely happy that the ASAP programmes exist." (Über FFG)

From earth observation to hunting

The team around Pentamap founders Rainer Prüller and Florian Schöggl originally comes from earth observation. During his doctoral studies at Graz University of Technology, Rainer Prüller dealt with GPS data and its evaluation. "I acquired a lot of know-how in this field and asked myself for which other applications Earth observation could be used. That's how I came across the subject of hunting." - The hunting licence was taken after the fact in order to be prepared not only technically but also in terms of content and to get to know the needs of the hunting community better.

"AnimalProtect" evaluates neuralgic road sections

Around the core application "Deermapper", the Graz researchers are constantly exploring possibilities to expand the functionality of the hunting management app. As part of the "Austrian Space Applications Programme" (ASAP), they recently evaluated key points in the road network in the "AnimalProtect" project, where traffic accidents with wild animals occur particularly frequently, as around 70,000 deer die on Austria's roads every year. "AnimalProtect" is intended to help identify neuralgic road sections and mitigate them with suitable measures in order to reduce the number of fallen deer. Project partners are the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Graz University of Technology, Birdlife Austria and the Natural History Museum Vienna.

"Jagd+" aims to minimise hunting accidents

In the second project "Jagd+", which has just been completed, Pentamap explored in cooperation with experts from the Austrian Federal Forests how GPS tracking can be used to prevent hunting accidents during movement hunts. The best solution would be to equip rifles with sensors that automatically lock the trigger when other hunters are in the direction of fire. As part of the project, Pentamap has already established contacts with leading hunting rifle manufacturers. This project was also funded by the ASAP space programme.

Happy about ASAP programmes

"We are extremely happy that the FFG's ASAP space programme exists," says Pentamap Managing Director Rainer Prüller, because research projects can be completed more quickly thanks to the funding. "We are very well supported by the FFG staff. They even inform us on their own initiative when there are calls for proposals or funding opportunities from other providers that suit us."