Ecological Green Network

How to Use This Map

Urban birds — pigeons, sparrows, swallows, mynas, and their kin — are far more than background noise in a busy city. As synanthropic species, they have evolved to thrive alongside human settlements, navigating a landscape of rooftops, roads, parks, and tree canopies that we have shaped over centuries.

This Ecological Network Map visualises the invisible pathways these birds use every day: the green corridors where they feed, nest, shelter, and move between patches of urban nature. Using a method called Omniscape circuit-theory modelling — which treats the city like an electrical circuit and calculates how easily "ecological current" flows from one green patch to another — the map translates complex animal movement data into something any resident can see and understand.

Every time a patch of trees is cleared, a park is paved over, or a road widens into a green strip, a piece of that invisible corridor breaks. Disconnected green patches mean birds become isolated, locally extinct, and the natural pest control, seed dispersal, and stress-relief that urban birds quietly provide us disappears with them.

This map shows planners, communities, and local governments exactly where the critical links in San Juan and Mandaluyong's green network are — the pinch points that need protection, the dead zones that need restoration, and the corridors that deserve preservation.

Protecting urban biodiversity is not just about birds — it is about building cities that are cooler, greener, more resilient, and genuinely liveable for people too. Use this map to identify which streets in your neighbourhood are ecological corridors, which parks anchor the network, and where restoration efforts would deliver the greatest connectivity benefit.

When you first open the map, you will see the title screen. Click Enter Map to fly into San Juan and Mandaluyong. The map will animate into the study area automatically.

At the top of the screen, find three scale buttons: Barangay Scale, Hex Grid Scale, and Road Scale. Each reveals a different layer of ecological data. Start with Barangay Scale for a neighbourhood-level overview.

Click any barangay to open its statistics in the Properties panel — average movement density, tree cover, core habitat patches, and area. Use the dropdown at the top to jump to a specific barangay.

This view breaks the city into hexagonal cells. Switch between Movement Density, Tree Cover Area, Policy Zone, and Cluster Types using the layer buttons. Hover to preview, click to lock statistics.

The legend at the bottom centre explains the current colour scale. Darker colours indicate higher ecological activity. For cluster types, colours represent statistical significance — hot spots are priority areas, cold spots are ecological dead zones.

Use the toggle switches in the top bar: Core Habitats shows anchor patches in the network. Barangay Borders overlays neighbourhood boundaries with name labels.

Relevant Roads (shown in green) pass through active ecological corridors — priority candidates for street tree planting or canopy restoration. Click any road to see its movement density and tree cover data.

With Core Habitats on, click any numbered green dot to see that patch's importance rank, its dI' connectivity score, area, and corresponding landmark (e.g. Wack-Wack Golf Course).

Scroll to zoom, click-drag to pan. Zooming far out returns you to the home screen — click Enter Map again to re-enter the study area.

In Barangay Scale, selecting a barangay shows an About the City card on the left — population, land area, and key facts to contextualise the ecological data.