Octophin Digital – Global Safety Net + others
Global Safety Net map app
Global Safety Net website
One Earth Navigator
One Earth website
Octophin Digital website
Octophin Digital GitHub account
From October 2023 – January 2024, I completed a software development internship at Octophin Digital (via Exceptional Individuals). Octophin Digital provides tech for the wildlife conservation, charities, and arts sector, and is based at Better Space, a hub for sustainable organisations in Farringdon. A portion of Octophin Digital’s codebases have been made available to the public in the GitHub account above.
A full list of Octophin’s work can be viewed here on their website. From that list, I worked on several projects during my internship (screenshots above):
- TerrAdapt – Cascadia, a dynamic mapping tool that tracks changes in landscapes and climate, and asses the impacts on species and ecosystems, for which I shadowed another member of staff as they utilised Drupal and PHP, as well as studied the codebase
- Time Traveller’s Guide to London Zoo – an interactive historical timeline for ZSL London Zoo, including features such as a quiz and multiple themes, stretching back to 1882, for which I had an intensive study of the codebase
- Wildlabs – the website for a global conservation community, for which I once again shadowed another member of staff as they utilised Drupal and PHP
- Chagos Conservation Trust and Chagos Information Portal – focuses on the Chagos Archipelago, one of the world’s Marine Protected Areas and most remote ecosystems, using an interactive map, scientific resources, videos, photos, and datasets; my work involved HTML, CSS, and a study of how the interactive elements work in the codebase
In addition, the majority of my time at Octophin Digital was spent working on an updated version of the interactive Global Safety Net (GSN) Map tool, spearheaded by One Earth, a nonprofit organisation devoted to solving the climate crisis – one of the biggest issues of our modern times. This element of my work is what I will focus on here. For the updated version of the GSN tool, I worked on a codebase that focussed principally on an interactive map of the world. This interactive map was and is powered by Mapbox, D3, and GeoJSON, with the codebase language principally being JavaScript.
Before delving into the GSN Map, however, I want to provide some context, which can then be used to better understand what is going on within the GSN map’s various options, via another of One Earth’s interactive tools.
One Earth Navigator tool
We are used to seeing maps of the world divide the Earth politically – into countries, states, provinces, and prefectures. The borders of these polities can shift as new countries are born and former countries collapse, all influenced by the shifting currents of geopolitics.
But there is another way to look at the world. Our planet is estimated to be roughly 4.54bn years old. Humans have lived for a fraction of that time, and for a fraction still of human existence, physical country borders, border infrastructure, passports, and the concepts of sovereign nation-states have existed. In contrast to this, the natural world, ancient as it is, can be viewed very differently.
Biorealms

Image: Karl Burkart, One Earth
One Earth’s Navigator tool is a biogeographical framework that shows the Earth defined by nature instead – and heading this view is the concept of Biorealms. A Biorealm is a geographical area defined not by political boundaries but by ecological systems – systems that have existed for vastly longer than mankind. Within each realm, ecosystems and groupings of organisms and species share a common evolutionary history. These very roughly correspond to the Earth’s continents, but are further subdivided, just as the Earth’s continents are divided into sub-regions (e.g. the Middle East in Asia, Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, etc.). One Earth recognises and utilises these fourteen realm divisions:
- Subarctic America
- Northern America
- Central America
- Southern America
- Afrotropics
- Subarctic Eurasia
- Eastern Eurasia
- Central Eurasia
- Western Eurasia
- Southern Eurasia
- Indomalaya
- Australasia
- Antarctica
- Oceania
Subrealms

Image: Karl Burkart, One Earth
Within each of these biorealms are grouped a number of subrealms – intermediary divisions of the major realms, clustered into a more familiar geographical taxonomy. The “Amazonia” subrealm, for example, draws in five tropical forest bioregions that cluster around the Amazon River basin in South America, and stretches over a vast area that takes in nine countries.
Returning to the list of biorealms, here are the 53 subrealms within each of those principal realms. Each one is viewable in the image.
- Subarctic America: Greenland, Canadian Tundra, Alaska, Canadian Boreal Forests
- Northern America: North Pacific Coast, American West, Great Plains, Northeast American Forests, Southeast US Savannas & Forests, Mexican Drylands
- Central America & Caribbean: Central America, Caribbean
- Southern America: Upper South America, Amazonia, Brazil Cerrado & Atlantic Coast, South American Grasslands, Andes Mountains & Pacific Coast
- Oceania: Oceanic Islands
- Afrotropics: Madagascar & East African Coast, Southern Afrotropics, Sub-Equatorial Afrotropics, Equatorial Afrotropics, Sub-Saharan Afrotropics, Horn of Africa
- South Eurasia: North Africa, Greater Arabian Peninsula
- Western Eurasia: Mediterranean, Black Sea Forests & Steppe, European Mountain Forests, Greater European Forests, Anglo-Celtic Isles
- Subarctic Eurasia: Palearctic Tundra, Scandinavia & Western Boreal Forests, Siberia & Eastern Boreal Forests, Sea of Okhotsk & Bering Tundra / Taiga
- Eastern Eurasia: Japanese Islands, Northeast Asian Forests, Mongolian Grasslands, Central East Asian Forests, Tibetan Plateau, East Asian Deserts
- Central Eurasia: Kazakh Steppes & Hemiboreal Forests, Caspian Sea & Central Asian Deserts, Tien Shan Mountains, Persian Deserts & Forests, Altai-Sayan Mountains
- Indomalaya: Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asian Forests, Malaysia & Western Indonesia
- Australasia: Australasian Islands & Eastern Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand
- Antarctica: Antarctic Continent & Islands
Bioregions

Images: Karl Burkart, One Earth
Along with these subrealms, One Earth has also demarcated 185 bioregions – discreet ecological units. While bioregions do feature in water, on land the most widely held bioregional framework is the ‘biome’ – a community of plants and animals that have adapted to specific climate conditions native to that realm.
The Earth’s fourteen major biomes are:
- Deserts & Xeric Shrublands
- Mountain Grasslands & Shrublands
- Temperate Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
- Tropical & Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
- Flooded Grasslands & Savannas
- Mangroves
- Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands & Scrub
- Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests
- Temperate Conifer Forests
- Tropical & Subtropical Coniferous Forests
- Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
- Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
- Boreal Forests / Taiga
- Tundra

Image: Karl Burkart, One Earth
In order to establish the boundaries of each bioregion, One Earth has applied a set of five rules that have helped align the bioregions as closely as possible with the ecological divisions pertaining to each continent.
As laid out here, the top-level rules that have been used in the development of the One Earth Bioregions Framework are:
- Bioregions are contained within one of the fourteen biogeographical realms and cannot cross over from one realm to another
- Bioregions are predominantly subdivisions of the major biomes defined above, which are defined by intersecting biomes with large-scale geological structures and commonly used climate zones
- Bioregions often consist of one biome type, often along with adjoining ecoregions (see below) belonging to another biome
- An ecoregion is never split between two bioregions
- Bioregions include the marine areas beyond the coastline, demarcated using the EEZ boundary lines. In some cases, marine provinces are used to articulate groupings of ecoregions within a bioregion. There are thirty small island bioregions. Meanwhile, the largest bioregion of all is the Siberian Boreal Forests & Mountain Tundra
Ecoregions

Image: Karl Burkart, One Earth
Each of One Earth’s bioregions is made up of ecoregion building blocks. Ecoregions are areas where ecosystems remain roughly uniform. This means that a spatial framework can be made for the research, assessment, and monitoring of ecosystem functionality.
An international consortium of conservation scientists identified 844 ecoregions of the world, utilised by methods such as satellite imagery and remote sensing. These ecoregions can be explored through a third, separate interactive One Earth web application (together with RESOLVE).
Global Safety Net
Connected with both the Navigator and Ecoregions apps, the Global Safety Net (GSN) Map is a One Earth initiative that provides a regular updated global assessment of land and marine areas. Specifically, this global-scale analysis focuses on areas requiring protection to solve the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, upholding, safeguarding, and strengthening Indigenous land rights on the way, with many indigenous peoples having seen the forces of industrialization increasingly encroach on their territory. Survival International has a comprehensive list of these many indigenous tribes.
Working with leading research institutions, the GSN focuses on these areas so that they can contribute to a robust and equitable distribution of conservation zones across the globe. The GSN’s spatial inventory of these unprotected lands and waters, vital havens for biodiversity and climate regulation, couldn’t be more important at a time when climate change is taking hold in every corner of the planet and agribusiness, mining, and deforestation continue to threaten natural habitats. The GSN identifies and prioritizes these areas critically in need of conservation and restoration, at the same time as taking into consideration the status and conservation of indigenous peoples, many of whom have lived in these areas for millennia.
There are six main layers that make up the GSN:
- Protected Areas
- Rare Species Sites
- High Biodiversity Areas
- Large Mammal Landscapes
- Intact Wilderness Areas
- Climate Stabilisation Areas
The GSN also incorporates analysis of wildlife corridors – areas of degraded land that can be restored to allow ecosystems to connect back together.
In total, the layers of the GSN total approximately 50% of the world’s land – a vast area that can offer a blueprint to restore our biosphere and contribute to the attempt to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5c.
My Work
My work on the GSN interactive map was varied but began with me experimenting with Mapbox and D3’s API features and documentation on my own, as well as getting used to the application of exclusive economic zone (EEZ) boundaries in interactive projects, including via the Marine Regions website.
I then moved on to the main portion of my work, which was handling a substantial amount of external data and statistics and translating this to the map via JSON in the codebase, so that it could be read in the map (more on this below). I had to ensure that I had correct figures for a vast amount of data, with the role involving a lot of double-checking.
In addition, I also worked in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to ensure that the elements on the page appeared correctly and functioned appropriately, as well as manipulating Mapbox and D3 syntax. Furthermore, I also worked on ejs (Embedded JavaScript) files – template files that allowed me to generate HTML markup within embedded JavaScript code, used to dynamically generate content changes based on data.
Boundaries Tool and Tooltip
The Boundaries tool is one of the most important features of the map. It offers the viewer biogeographical boundary options in how they view and filter the map, with a hierarchical element in which ecoregions are nested within bioregions within subrealms within realms (biorealms). National boundaries are also offered, in contrast to the Navigator tool, as well as internally in the US via displaying individual states.
With one of the boundary options chosen, if the user mouses over a specific area of the map, an appropriate high-level overview of statistics appears in a tooltip relating to various aspects of that boundary’s environmental and conservation status, making it relatively easy for the user to grasp the boundary’s overall conservation status, its role in global environmental targets, and the most critical areas for action. My work included not just designing this tooltip, but also ensuring that the correct data appears in the tooltip – a role that required handling an enormous amount of data.
Accordingly, the Boundary tool options are:
None:
Realms:
- Realm area (1000 ha): Total area of a realm (biorealm), measured in thousands of hectares. In the case of the screenshot, the Greater Nearctic realm has 1,076,940 thousand hectares (or 1,076,940 square kilometres)
- GSN target: Represents the percentage of the realm area that needs to be conserved or restored to meet global conservation goals. The first percentage typically represents the current or immediate conservation target, while the second percentage could be the additional area identified as critical for biodiversity and climate goals. These percentages together guide how much of the realm area should be under conservation
- Indigenous Territories Overlap: Shows the percentage of the realm area that overlaps with Indigenous Peoples’ territories. In the case of the screenshot above, the 4% indicates that Indigenous territories make up 4% of the area of the highlighted realm (Greater Nearctic), highlighting the importance of Indigenous lands in conservation efforts
- GSN carbon storage (MtC): This figure represents the amount of carbon stored in the realm’s ecosystems, measured in million metric tons of carbon (MtC). For the Greater Nearctic realm in the screenshot above, 82,820 MtC signifies a significant carbon storage capacity, which is critical for mitigating climate change
- Protection Level (0-10): The Protection Level is a score ranging from 0 to 10 that reflects the degree of protection currently in place for the realm’s natural areas, with 0 representing areas with the least protection (currently unprotected) and 10 representing the highest level of protection. A score of 2, as in the screenshot, indicates a relatively low level of existing protection, suggesting that there is considerable room for improvement in conserving natural areas in the respective realm
Subrealms:
- Subrealm ID: Shows the ID for each subrealm
- Realm: Shows the realm (biorealm) that the subrealm is located in (in the case of the screenshot, Nearctic)
- Subrealm size (1000 ha): Total size of a subrealm, measured in thousands of hectares. In the case of the screenshot, the Great Plains realm has 271,478 thousand hectares
- GSN target: Represents the percentage of the subrealm area that needs to be conserved or restored to meet global conservation goals The first percentage typically represents the current or immediate conservation target, while the second percentage could be the additional area identified as critical for biodiversity and climate goals. These percentages together guide how much of the subrealm should be under conservation
- Indigenous Territories Overlap: Shows the percentage of the subrealm area that overlaps with Indigenous Peoples’ territories
- GSN carbon storage (MtC): This figure represents the amount of carbon stored in the subrealm’s ecosystems, measured in million metric tons of carbon (MtC)
- Protection Level (0-10): The Protection Level is a score ranging from 0 to 10 that reflects the degree of protection currently in place for the realm’s natural areas, with 0 representing areas with the least protection and 10 representing the highest level of protection. A score of 1, as in the screenshot, indicates a very low level of existing protection
Bioregions:
- Bioregion ID: Shows the ID for each bioregion
- Bioregion size (1000 ha): Total size of a bioregion, measured in thousands of hectares. In the case of the screenshot, the Southern Prairie Mixed Grasslands bioregion has 98,632 thousand hectares
- GSN target: Represents the percentage of the bioregion area that needs to be conserved or restored to meet global conservation goals. The first percentage typically represents the current or immediate conservation target, while the second percentage could be the additional area identified as critical for biodiversity and climate goals. These percentages together guide how much of the bioregion should be under conservation
- Indigenous Territories Overlap: Shows the percentage of the bioregion area that overlaps with Indigenous Peoples’ territories.
– GSN carbon storage (MtC): This figure represents the amount of carbon stored in the bioregion’s ecosystems, measured in million metric tons of carbon (MtC) - Protection Level (0-10): The Protection Level is a score ranging from 0 to 10 that reflects the degree of protection currently in place for the bioregion’s natural areas, with 0 representing areas with the least protection and 10 representing the highest level of protection. A score of 0, as in the screenshot, indicates the lowest level of existing protection that it’s possible to go (i.e. currently unprotected)
Ecoregions:
- Subrealm: Shows the subrealm that the ecoregion is located in (in the case of the ecoregion in the screenshot, the subrealm is Great Plains)
- Ecoregion size (1000 ha): Total size of an ecoregion, measured in thousands of hectares. In the case of the screenshot, the Central-Southern US Mixed Grasslands ecoregion has 27,545 thousand hectares
- GSN target: Represents the percentage of the ecoregion area that needs to be conserved or restored to meet global conservation goals. The first percentage typically represents the current or immediate conservation target, while the second percentage could be the additional area identified as critical for biodiversity and climate goals. These percentages together guide how much of the ecoregion area should be under conservation
- Indigenous Territories Overlap: Shows the percentage of the ecoregion area that overlaps with Indigenous Peoples’ territories
- GSN carbon storage (MtC): This figure represents the amount of carbon stored in the ecoregion’s ecosystems, measured in million metric tons of carbon (MtC)
- Protection Level (0-10): The Protection Level is a score ranging from 0 to 10 that reflects the degree of protection currently in place for the ecoregion’s natural areas, with 0 representing areas with the least protection and 10 representing the highest level of protection
Countries:
- Country size (1000 ha): Total land area of a country, measured in thousands of hectares. In the case of the USA, 946,911 thousand hectares equals 9,469,110 square kilometres
- GSN target: Represents the percentage of the country’s land that needs to be conserved or restored to meet global conservation goals. The first percentage typically represents the current or immediate conservation target, while the second percentage could be the additional land identified as critical for biodiversity and climate goals. These percentages together guide how much of the country’s area should be under conservation
- IP territories overlap: Shows the percentage of the country’s area that overlaps with Indigenous Peoples’ territories. In the case of the USA screenshot above, the 6% indicates that Indigenous territories make up 6% of the land in the United States, highlighting the importance of Indigenous lands in conservation efforts
- Carbon storage (MtC): This figure represents the amount of carbon stored in the country’s ecosystems, measured in million metric tons of carbon (MtC). For the United States in the screenshot above, 134,116 MtC signifies a significant carbon storage capacity, which is critical for mitigating climate change
- Protection Level (0-10): The Protection Level is a score ranging from 0 to 10 that reflects the degree of protection currently in place for the country’s natural areas, with 0 representing areas with the least protection and 10 representing the highest level of protection
U.S. States:
- State size (1000 ha): Total land area of a state, measured in thousands of hectares. In the case of the screenshot, Texas has 68,831 thousand hectares
- GSN target: Represents the percentage of the US state’s land that needs to be conserved or restored to meet global conservation goals. The first percentage typically represents the current or immediate conservation target, while the second percentage could be the additional land identified as critical for biodiversity and climate goals. These percentages together guide how much of the states’ area should be under conservation
- GSN carbon storage (MtC): This figure represents the amount of carbon stored in the state’s ecosystems, measured in million metric tons of carbon (MtC). For Texas in the screenshot above, 3,705 MtC signifies a significant carbon storage capacity, which is critical for mitigating climate change
- Protection Level (0-10): The Protection Level is a score ranging from 0 to 10 that reflects the degree of protection currently in place for the country’s natural areas, with 0 representing areas with the least protection and 10 representing the highest level of protection.
A colour bar also appears beneath this data, representing the Protection Level of the boundary the user is mousing over. The colour bar visually corresponds to this scale, typically using a gradient from one colour (indicating lower protection levels) to another colour (indicating higher protection levels).
This colour-coded bar helps users to quickly assess the relative protection status of different boundaries, with more vibrant or darker colours usually indicating higher protection levels, and lighter or more muted colours indicating lower protection levels.
Finally, the tooltip also shows geographic coordinates, representing longitude and latitude respectively, regardless of the boundary chosen.
Table of Data:
Meanwhile, if the user clicks on a boundary, rather than just mousing over it, a table appears on the screen (see screenshot above), which goes into more granular detail than the tooltip data on how different parts of a boundary contribute to its overall conservation status and goals. Specifically, it provides detailed categorical data in columns, relating to the respective boundary that the user has clicked on, under the row headings:
- Area (1000 ha) – the area associated with specific conservation categories, measured in thousands of hectares. The numbers under this heading represent the actual size of the areas identified for various conservation targets within the boundary. This expands on the total overall boundary size given in the tooltip by breaking it down into specific areas that need conservation, protection, or restoration
- Carbon (MtC) – This column represents the amount of carbon stored in the ecosystems within the specific areas or categories listed in the table (listed below), measured in million metric tons of carbon (MtC). While the tooltip provides a total carbon storage figure for the entire boundary, the data under this heading breaks that total down into the carbon stored in different types of land and ecosystems (such as forests, wetlands, etc.) or in areas that have been designated for specific conservation goals
- Percentage (%) – Shows the percentage of the boundary’s total areas that each specific conservation category or land type represents. While the tooltip provides overall percentages like the GSN target or Indigenous territories overlap, the data under this heading provides a more detailed breakdown of how the total land area of the boundary is distributed across different conservation priorities or protected areas
The column variables are:
- Total Terrestrial Area
- Terrestrial Protected Areas
- Additional Species Rarity Sites
- Additional Biodiversity Areas
- Additional Species Assemblages
- Additional Intactness & Wilderness
- Additional Climate Stabilization
- Total Global Safety Net Area
- Indigenous Peoples’ Lands Overlap
- Subtotal High-Biodiversity Areas
- Subtotal Other Intactness Areas
If the user then clicks ‘Show Summary’, it then returns the same data as displayed in the tooltip, along with the colour-coded bar.
Base Layer Tool
The second tool in the sidebar provides a selection of different base maps for geographical reference, enabling the user to enhance their interpretation of the geographic and conservation data presented. The map views include satellite imagery, topographic maps, terrain maps, or political boundaries. Each layer provides a different perspective on the geographic area and data, making it easier to analyse and understand the environmental and conservation information, and allowing users to choose the view that best suits their needs.
Manipulating the base layer tool can be done in combination with the other sidebar controls, including the Boundaries layer tool mentioned above and the filters outlined below, so that the map can be viewed in countless different configurations of layers and filters.
Terrain Simple (greyscale):
Terrain Hybrid:
Satellite Image:
Satellite Hybrid:
Road/Cities:
Filters
The sidebar offers a number of filter sliders – interactive tools that allow users to refine and customise the data displayed on the map based on specific criteria. The sliders allow users to focus their exploration of the most relevant areas for their interests, making the data more manageable and meaningful, including understanding how different factors overlap or correlate.
- Protected Areas:
-
- Terrestrial protected areas – a composite filter of listed Protected Areas from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA, June 2023)
- Additional unprotected areas:
- Species rarity sites (2024) – a composite of all unprotected areas encompassing six land classifications (Alliance for Zero Extinction Sites, IUCN Range Rarity Sites, IUCN Threatened Species Sites, Key Biodiversity Areas, Small-range Vertebrates, and Rare Plant Species)
- High biodiversity areas – a composite of all unprotected areas not currently captured by Species rarity sites, encompassing two major land classifications (Biodiversity Hotspots and High Beta Diversity areas)
- Large mammal landscapes – all unprotected areas not currently captured by Species Rarity Sites or High Biodiversity Areas, derived from the study ‘An ecoregion-based approach to restoring the world’s intact large mammal assemblages
- Intact wilderness areas – a composite of all unprotected areas not currently captured by Species Rarity Sites, High Biodiversity Areas, or Large Mammal Landscapes
- Climate stabilization areas – all remaining unprotected land areas that are in a relatively intact condition and are not covered by other GSN layers, storing more than 50 metric tonnes of combined above and below-ground carbon per hectare
- Reference layers:
- Inland surface water – prevalent extents of freshwater bodies, rivers, and streams derived from the European Commission’s Global Surface Water Explorer
- Species rarity sites (2020) – a composite of all unprotected areas encompassing six land classifications (Alliance for Zero Extinction Sites, IUCN Range Rarity Sites, IUCN Threatened Species Sites, Key Biodiversity Areas, Small-range Vertebrate Sites, and Rare Plant Species)
- Terrestrial ecoregions – 844 discreet regional polygons within which plant and animal assemblages and habitat characteristics are generally similar
- Potential wildlife corridors – a global modelling scenario utilising circuit theory to efficiently interconnect all refugia globally, suggesting a minimum possible extent required to provide population-level patterns of gene flow across landscapes
Additional Features
There is also an option in the sidebar that allows the user to submit data for future versions of the GSN map. The panel tools in the upper left corner of the map allow users to draw a polygon or mark a point and add specific notations to the defined geographical area. This ensures that the map can be updated accordingly once new data comes in.
The panel tools also include a Zoom function, with the Zoom level displayed in the bottom-left of the map; plus, an option to reset the bearing to North, if required.
Conclusion
Working on the GSN Map was an incredibly inspiring project for me. Completing this work helped me understand how complex the natural make-up of the Earth is, and how varied and inter-connected the various biorealms, subrealms, bioregions, biomes, and ecoregions that make up our planet really are. All life on Earth, including humans, interact with the planet as part of a complex synergistic and self-regulating system, in which the Earth functions essentially as a living being. Yet man-made climate change threatens this fragile equilibrium, with Earth’s climate system effected by ongoing increases in global average temperatures, and the knock-on effects on every region of the world, from the tundra of the Arctic and Antarctic to the rainforests of the Equator and beyond. Working with complex data that reflects this was a true challenge that I believe I was capable of mastering during my internship.
Aside from this, I also gained a large amount of knowledge of working in a professional software development and data science role, including in how the two overlap, as well as consolidating my knowledge of how complicated codebases and different file types work. I particularly enjoyed the data side of the role, which is why I subsequently completed a Data Analyst Bootcamp at Cambridge Spark.
More generally, I hope that my contribution to the GSN Map can help raise awareness of the fragility of our planet, and of what can be done to counter global warming.
We only have one planet that all of humanity resides on. It’s our home. Let’s keep it habitable before it’s too late.