DinoTracker App: AI Meets Dinosaur Footprints
- Sarah Ruivivar
- Feb 2
- 2 min read
The world of palaeontology just got a tech upgrade with the launch of the DinoTracker app.
This snazzy new tool uses artificial intelligence to identify dinosaur footprints, matching the prowess of human experts about 90% of the time. That's right, your smartphone could now be your very own dino-detective!
Developed by a team of experts including Prof Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, DinoTracker is like a prehistoric Cinderella story. When you find a footprint, the app helps you find the dino-foot that fits! But, as Prof Brusatte points out, it's not as simple as slipping on a glass slipper. Footprints vary with the type of terrain and the dinosaur's gait.
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Unlike previous AI systems that relied on potentially flawed labels, this app takes a fresh approach. By feeding it 2,000 unlabelled footprint silhouettes, the AI analyses features like toe spread and heel position to determine similarities. The result? An app that lets you upload a footprint silhouette and explore similar prints with a few taps.
Interestingly, the AI has confirmed some palaeontologists' hunches: certain Triassic and Jurassic footprints are eerily birdlike, even though they predate the oldest known bird fossils by 60 million years! While this doesn't mean we had birds roaming the Earth that early, it suggests some dinosaurs had very avian-like feet.
So, whether you're a budding palaeontologist or just a dino-enthusiast, DinoTracker is your new best friend in the quest for ancient footprints. Who knew the past could be so tech-savvy?
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