MaCCOLL Galathea
A passion project — Jonathan Dent has donated his development time to build Galathea, a web and desktop application for MaCCOLL's marine survey team to process, record, and report on the rich ecosystems of Loch Linnhe.
The Background
Surveying the Sea, Protecting What's Below
MaCCOLL is a charity working to understand and protect Scotland's coastal marine environment. One of its teams conducts ongoing surveys of the marine life within Loch Linnhe — lowering monitoring equipment to the seabed to film the ecosystem living beneath the surface.
Jonathan Dent partnered with Richard Wilkie — a trained Seasearch Surveyor with a passion for coastal ecosystems — to build Galathea. The application gives the survey team a dedicated tool to process the raw film and photographic data captured by their monitoring equipment, and to begin building a structured record of what they find.
This is a passion project. Jonathan donates his development time in full, and the long-term ambition is meaningful: a growing dataset of Loch Linnhe's marine life, surfaced through a reporting layer, and ultimately contributed to national conservation databases.
Raw Survey Footage
Monitoring equipment is lowered to the seabed of Loch Linnhe, capturing film and photographs of the marine ecosystem below.
Species Recording
The team reviews footage and logs species observations, building a structured record of marine life across each survey.
National Databases
The long-term goal is to push collected data into national conservation databases, contributing to a wider picture of Scotland's coastal marine health.
What We're Building
How Galathea Works
Galathea gives the MaCCOLL survey team the tools to turn raw footage into structured, usable conservation data.
Footage Processing
Raw video and photographic data from the seabed monitoring equipment is ingested and organised within the application, ready for the team to review and annotate.
Survey Data Recording
The team logs species observations and survey findings in a structured format, ensuring every dive produces consistent, comparable records that build over time.
Reporting Layer
The roadmap includes a full reporting layer — aggregating data across all surveys to surface trends, species counts, and ecosystem changes over time.
Web & Desktop
Galathea runs as both a web and desktop application, giving the team flexibility to work in the field or at a desk without losing any functionality.
National Database Integration
The long-term vision is to feed Galathea's collected data into national conservation databases, contributing MaCCOLL's survey findings to the broader scientific community.
Built With Conservationists
Galathea is shaped by the people who will use it. Richard Wilkie's expertise in coastal conservation ensures the application is built around real survey workflows and scientific needs.
The Application
Galathea In Action
A look at the application as it takes shape — built to make marine survey data structured, accessible, and useful.
Technology in Service of the Sea
Galathea is still in its early stages, but it represents something we care deeply about — using the skills we have to support work that matters. By giving MaCCOLL's survey team the right tools, we hope to help build a lasting, valuable record of Loch Linnhe's marine life that will benefit conservation efforts for years to come.
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