WildTrax 2.0 marks a major step forward in platform performance, scalability, and usability for environmental sensor data users, strengthening the platform going forward. This update is part of our ongoing commitment to providing high-quality tools for environmental monitoring and data management. With growing demand and data volume, we’ve focused our efforts on enhancing the core infrastructure, modernizing the user interface, and supporting more flexible and sustainable storage solution options. Whether you’re an ecologist reviewing acoustic detections, a data manager organizing camera trap photos, or a researcher downloading data for analysis, these improvements aim to make your experience faster, smoother, and more reliable. We continue to be inspired by the WildTrax community, now over 570 Organizations strong, with thousands of active users and millions of recordings and images hosted within the platform. Thank you for helping build a shared ecosystem for environmental sensor data. Your support makes WildTrax more than a platform; it makes it a movement. For more information, check out the updated version of the User Guide at (https://portal.wildtrax.ca/guide), or contact our team at info@wildtrax.ca at any time.
Back-End Infrastructure
Behind the scenes, WildTrax has migrated to a more powerful and scalable server environment. A new server cluster hosted at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has come online to handle the increasing data volume and load from our users, while offering a cost-effective data storage solution. This change dramatically improves system stability and speeds up large query performance to ensure minimal downtime while strengthening data security.
Storage & Costing Options
WildTrax now offers multiple data storage options designed to meet the needs of users. Each Organization must select a storage location for media files (e.g., audio recordings, camera trap images) at the time of upload. This ensures fast, on-demand access to your files when you need them most. WildTrax now operates under a cost-recovery model for data storage, as of April 1, 2026. Storage fees will apply annually for Organizations that exceed their free tier allotment, and will be billed annually in early March. Current storage options include:
WildTrax Live Servers
Location: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
This is the default storage option for users, offering a cost-effective and sustainable solution. Off-site simultaneous backups are handled through Amazon Deep Glacier, ensuring long-term data durability and security.
- Free Storage Tier: 0-250 GB
- Annual Cost: >250 GB; $75.00 CAD / TB
Amazon Web Services (AWS S3)
Locations: Oregon (USA) or Montreal (Canada).
Ideal for users requiring international accessibility and high-performance throughput, AWS S3 supports a wide range of use cases using this global infrastructure.
- Annual Cost: $360.00 CAD / TB
Organization members can access storage reports within their Organization, under the Usage Reports tab.
User Interface
With the official end-of-life for VueJS version 2, we’ve upgraded the WildTrax front-end VueJS framework to version 3. This transition improves platform responsiveness and allows for greater flexibility in developing new features. The updated user interface includes enhanced searches and dropdowns, table filtering tools, context menus, streamlined navigation, improved accessibility, and a responsive design. PrimeVue, a modern UI component library, powers these upgrades, making it easier to maintain consistency and scale future development.
wildrtrax
The wildrtrax R package (https://abbiodiversity.github.io/wildrtrax/) will be updated to version 1.5 to support a growing number of use cases, including more robust data download tools, metadata integration, and improved documentation. This package continues to empower data users to pull WildTrax data seamlessly into custom analysis workflows in R.
Some recent key updates include:
- Enhanced camera data wrangling for improved efficiency and accuracy
- Refactored API functions for streamlined GET and POST access to core WildTrax services
- Expanded test coverage to include edge-case and niche user workflows
- Reduced external dependencies to support smoother future CRAN submission
See the wildrtrax changelog for the most recent version and package information: https://abbiodiversity.github.io/wildrtrax/news/index.html.