How to access the free, open-source AI Victorian Species Recognition Model

Parks Victoria has co-created the Victorian Species Recognition Model, a freely available Artificial Intelligence tool that scans images captured on remote cameras by land managers, researchers, and citizen scientists.

The model first detects whether there is an animal, person or vehicle in the image, or whether the image is empty. It then classifies the images of animals to species-level where possible, or a high-order category. It can recognise more than 200 threatened, common and introduced animals found in Victoria with 95 to 99 per cent accuracy. You can use the Victorian Species Recognition Model now through AddaxAI.

Getting started

You can visit the AddaxAI website to download the app. It's a free, open-source interface used to run the model on your computer. Once you download the AddaxAI app, you’ll be prompted to select the models you want to download and use. Select the Victorian Species Recognition Model.

AddaxAI is also integrated with Timelapse which is the free software that we recommend using to review the AI model’s species recognitions and tagging your images.

We strongly recommend reading the detailed guides provided by Saul Greenberg to get you started. Especially parts 1–4 – Quick Start Guide, Reference Guide, Template Guide and Image Recognition Guide. You can find the guides on the Timelapse website.

You will need to use a computer with a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). AddaxAI runs automatically on NVIDIA and Apple Silicon GPUs.

Who we worked with

Working with Addax Data Science, millions of images were collected from 2,500 locations in 28 bioregions to train the model. Parks Victoria is grateful to the following partners who contributed images to the training library.

Training library contributors

• Arthur Rylah Institute
• Biolinks Alliance
• Conservation Ecology Centre (Otways)
• Deakin University
• Department of Agriculture & Fisheries (Queensland Government)
• Department of Energy Environment & Climate Action
• Department of Primary Industries NSW
• Djaara (Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation)
• Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority
• Mallee Catchment Management Authority
• Melbourne Water
• Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group
• National Malleefowl Recovery Group
• North Central Catchment Management Authority
• Phillip Island Nature Parks
• Queensland Park & Wildlife Service
• The University of Melbourne
• Zoos Victoria