What is PlantGang?

<aside> 🌿 PlantGang is…

a ****decentralised community ****of researchers, enthusiasts and citizen scientists dedicated to protecting and immortalising nature through 3D scanned scientific specimen collections.

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We’re kicking this off by building the first 3D virtual herbarium, a scientifically accurate, decentralised collection of 3D models of real-world scanned plant specimens.

We strive to create a new era for open academic research not limited by social, economical or geographic backgrounds while supporting local communities and environmental habitats through regenerative economics powered by collectible 3D-model sales.

We begin this with our flagship herbarium collection, but aim to immortalise nature through many different types of specimens collected by our global community from fungi to coral reefs, continuing to pair our 3D models with associated scientific data. Crucially, protecting this data on a decentralised storage network (IPFS).

✨ Our call to adventure? - ‘We're going to build the first virtual herbarium, powered by community-driven collection of scientific 3D model plant specimens’✨

The Virtual Herbarium

Community driven 3D capture

The virtual herbarium is a first of its kind platform created by PlantGang and powered by PlantGang’s global community of citizen scientists.

With the support of PlantGang, using basic tech such as a smartphone, our members can collect scientific data and scan real-world plant specimens.

After simply uploading a short video of their chosen plant specimen, PlantGang can use 3D modelling technologies (NeRF and Photogrammetry) to generate photoreal 3D model specimens.

The community

Our community is formed of citizen scientists, academic researchers and 3D-scanners. This community drives the scanning of plant specimens across the globe, whilst also collecting important associated scientific data for each specimen. Together these individuals immortalise nature’s essence for all to see.

The Users

The PlantGang community consists of…

Scientists - They use these scientific models for education and research purposes from lectures to research papers, analyzing and educating around the rarely seen morphologies, colours and moments in time captured within our specimens.

Collectors - Fascinated by the worlds biodiversity and its preservation, our collectors purchase the scanners ‘open collectibles’ to own real pieces of nature on chain, learning about each specimen and supporting research and conservation IRL.

Enthusiasts - These nature lovers come to experience the immersive captures and witness nature on a global scale.

Learn more ⇒ Our Impact

Our Scientific 3D Specimens

Storing plant specimens as 3D-Models

Currently, scientific plant specimens are 2D pressings stored physically in herbariums, restricting access to specimens for both scientists and general enthusiasts outside of that location. While the vital importance of digitalising scientific collections has recently been realised, leading to a huge push to store scientific specimens digitally, these ultimately remain in their 2D form.

The science behind PlantGang

The science behind PlantGang

PlantGang however is using Photogrammetry to create photorealistic 3D models, which are minted and stored on the blockchain, making them unalterable and immortal, unlike physical specimens. Additionally, unlike traditionally-stored specimens, our models show details of morphology and colouration, capturing the plant as it would be in its natural environment.

Finally, each specimen is collected with associated scientific metadata from its geolocation and collection date to phenology and associated species, giving each specimen scientific context; grounding them in reality for use in research and education.