Photos: Conquering the arctic wilderness
Trekking tech helping team to map climate change
A remote corner of the Arctic, the Northwest Passage, is being tackled by a brave band of explorers with the help of high tech planning software.
Amidst the ice-locked terrain, temperatures of 40 below zero and man-eating polar bears the Ice Warriors team led by veteran explorer Jim McNeill have prepared for every eventuality using MindManager. Just days after setting off on the 500-mile trek from their base in Resolute Bay the team stay on top of their logistics by accessing MindManager on laptops.
Photo credit: Ice Warriors
Preparations for setting off on the 50-day journey, which started on 5 March, are seen here but the team of eight started using MindManager's visual mapping tool to plan their logistics and critical contingency measures back in 2003.
Photo credit: Ice Warriors
The team are laden with equipment, as seen here, which will allow them to measure the effect of climate change, thought to be opening up the ice-locked passage.
The passage through the northern tip of Canada could be used as a shipping route that could shave nearly 4,000 miles off journeys between Europe and the Far East.
Photo credit: Ice Warriors
MindManager, seen here, figured centrally in the planning of this colossal project and provided a visual interface that rapidly captured, organised and displayed information as intuitive data maps.
Jim McNeill, Ice Warrior's founder, said in a statement: "When faced with a potentially life-threatening situation to the team, the responsibility of getting everyone home safely is imperative.
"These expeditions are logistically very complicated and visualisation software has been a revelation in planning for it. As a team we have used the tool to visualise and brainstorm different events that we might face in the Arctic, even the unexpected and highly unlikely scenarios."
Photo credit: Ice Warriors