Among the South Africa’s greatest inventions, on display at the MTN ScienCentre in Cape Town, is the Cybertracker, a hand-held computer to track animals in Africa’s remote national parks, where the most detailed data still have to be collected on foot.

Invented by Louise Liebenberg and Justin Steventon in 1996, the device lets users record what they see quickly, and then plots maps showing exactly where the observations were made, using GPS.

Moreover, its graphic interface makes it possible for illiterate people to enter very detailed information, which helps scientists carry out their reasearch.

And it is cheap. The software to run it, now available for general use, can be downloaded from CyberTracker’s website for nothing.

From BBC News.