Students collaborate with nonprofit to reduce bird collisions with buildings.

Georgia Tech students have built data tools to help Birds Georgia map and visualize bird-window collisions in Atlanta, supporting the group's effort to push for bird-safe building policies.

Interactive computing students at Georgia Tech are helping Birds Georgia organize and analyze data on bird collisions with buildings in Atlanta, a city ranked among the most dangerous for migrating birds. Birds Georgia launched Project Safe Flight in 2015 and has relied on volunteer surveys to track collisions over the last decade. Student-created tools convert volunteer inputs into visualizations and consolidate data from multiple sources to support advocacy. The work is intended to inform conversations about adopting building standards and reducing light at night. Key facts: - Birds Georgia launched Project Safe Flight in 2015 and has gathered collision records through volunteer surveys for about a decade. - Georgia Tech students developed user-interface tools to consolidate collision reports and create visualizations aimed at making the data easier to share. - Atlanta is reported as the fourth-most dangerous U.S. city for birds during fall migration and ninth-most dangerous in spring, and the organization reports more than 140 species affected. - Birds Georgia is using the data to advocate for legislation that would require bird-safe materials in new buildings and major renovations; a timeline for any legal steps is not specified. Summary: The tools are intended to clarify how widespread collisions are and to make the data usable in policy discussions about bird-safe building practices and reduced nighttime lighting. Undetermined at this time.