お知らせ

[2023/07/25] 人工知能学会で行われた入賞者プレゼンの動画を公開いたしました。https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zPjm9xVWzE
[2023/06/26] 入賞者レポートを公開しました。
[2023/04/10] データタブの「画像データリンク（image_data.txt）」に記載のリンク先で公開している、衛星画像などのラスターデータのid.tifにバグが見つかりました。2023/04/08以前にダウンロードされた方は、まことにお手数ですが、今一度、id.tifのダウンロードをし、こちらのデータのご使用をお願いいたします。
[2023/02/21] 追加データの衛生画像を公開いたしました。データタブの「画像データリンク（image_data.txt）」に記載のリンク先よりデータをダウンロードください。
[2023/02/01] キックオフイベントの録画を公開いたしました。本コンペの目的や課題についての解説もありますので、参加者の方や参加を迷われている方も皆様是非一度ご覧ください。

▼動画はこちら
(1)生物多様性ビックデータに基づいたネイチャーの可視化
(2)コンペ課題、テーマについての説明

[2023/01/31] 配布データ「特徴量の説明(feature_description.xlsx)」を修正いたしました。お手数ですが再度ダウンロードしてご活用ください。

コンペ趣意

気候変動問題の解決策の一つとして、沿岸域の海草藻場を再生して炭素を貯留するブルーカーボンが注目されています。海草や藻類が光合成をして成長する過程で、海中に炭素が固定されるので、海草藻場再生が温暖化対策に貢献するという考え方です。ビジネスの世界では、企業が排出した炭素をオフセットする目的で、ブルーカーボンによる炭素取引が活発になりつつあります。

しかし、海草藻場を人工的に再生するのは技術的に困難である上に、実際の再生事業は自然のメカニズムを十分に考慮できていないことが指摘されています。さらに、海草藻場における炭素の長期貯蔵の効果も必ずしも担保されている訳ではありません。例えば、沿岸域のマングローブ、海草藻場、干潟湿地などのブルーカーボンを利用した炭素隔離・貯留は不確実で信頼性が低く、気候変動に対する費用対効果に疑問符がつき、過剰なクレジットをもたらすことが懸念されています。

特に日本の場合、台風や河川からの土砂の流入などで、大規模な撹乱が起こりやすく、沿岸域の海草藻場、特に内湾の堆積環境に成立するアマモ場は、時間的・空間的な変動性がとても大きいのです。したがって、生態学的に不適切な場所で自然再生事業を行っても、人工的な海草藻場は、頻繁な自然攪乱で消失するリスクがあります。実効性のあるブルーカーボン事業を推進するためには、実際の海草藻場の空間的な分布の成り立ちを把握し、海草藻場生態系の時間的な変動の仕組みを理解する必要があります。

自然界では、海草藻場がどのような場所に成立し、どれくらいの時間スケールで成長したり消失したりしているのでしょうか。これらの問いへの科学的な解答こそが、ブルーカーボン事業を成功させる鍵になります。このような背景とモチベーションから、Ocean180プロジェクトは、海洋生物多様性に関する膨大なデータを整備し、それにより海の生物多様性の時空間の変化を把握し、将来のリスクを予測できるようにするための研究開発を行っています。本コンペティションでは蓄積したデータの一部を利用して、生物多様性に関連する予測タスクに挑んでいただきます。これをきっかけに一人でも多くの人工知能、データサイエンスの研究者の皆さんが生物多様性の課題に関心を持ち、問題の解決に寄与していただくことを期待しています。

Ocean180プロジェクトは、文部科学省「海洋生物ビッグデータ活用技術高度化」の正規課題「海洋生物多様性ビッグデータ汎用化の基盤技術と海の豊かさを守る応用技術の開発」を実施する研究プロジェクトです（代表：琉球大学理学部久保田康裕教授）。

課題

沖縄県全域を対象として、ブルーカーボンの重要な指標となる海草藻場の被度（一定面積の地表面や海底面を覆う割合）を、環境変数や衛星画像をもとに推定する機械学習モデルを開発していただきます。訓練データとして、沖縄県の様々な場所・年代・時期に調査された海草藻場の被度と様々な環境変数や衛星画像が与えられます。その訓練データを用いて機械学習モデルを学習し、訓練データとは空間的に異なる領域のテストデータに対する海草藻場の被度の予測精度を競っていただきます。


参加条件

３位までに入賞した場合、2023年6月6~9日に熊本城ホールで行われる人工知能学会全国大会の本コンペが企画するセッションで登壇発表できること。
※大会参加費・交通費・宿泊費に充てていただくために1チーム10万円を提供いたします。

お問い合わせ

本コンペへの質問・お問い合わせは、人工知能・ソフトウェア技術研究センターが対応致しますので、本コンペのフォーラムにてお問い合わせ下さい。

追加データ（2月21日から提供開始）
沖縄県全域（大東島を除く）における、島周辺の藻場が生育する浅海域の20m分解能の衛星・環境要因の特徴量を含めたラスター画像を提供します（下記左図）。海草藻場の被度の情報がないものの、島周辺の特徴量が網羅的に得られるため、ラベルなしデータとしての活用が期待できます。さらに、沖縄県の島周辺を切り出した20mもしくは30m分解能のマルチバンド衛星画像データも提供します（下記右図）。


データについて
本コンペで使用するAI開発用の教師データは、海草藻場に関するデータ及び、海洋環境に関する様々な一次データを加工（クリーニング・標準化・強化）した、2次的データ（著作物）です。

評価方法

  • 精度評価は、評価関数「RMSE（Root Mean Squared Error 平均二乗平方根誤差）」を使用します。
  • 評価値は0以上の値をとり、精度が高いほど小さな値となります。


入賞者決定の流れ

  1. コンペ最終日までの評価（暫定評価）は評価用データセットの一部で評価し、コンペ終了後の評価（最終評価）は評価用データセットの残りの部分で評価します。リーダーボードはコンテスト終了時に自動的に最終評価に切り替わり、それを元に最終順位を決定します。このため、開催中と終了後では順位が大きく変動する場合もあります。
    ※投稿ファイルは最大2つまで選択可能で、最終評価のスコアの高いファイルが自動的に採用されます。
  2. スコアが同値の場合は、早い日時でご応募いただいた参加者を上位とします。
  3. 最終評価による順位が上位の方を入賞候補者とし、事務局から連絡いたします。
  4. 入賞候補者には、以下を提出していただきます。
    • 学習や前処理など、応募時に投稿した推論部分を除いた部分のソースコード
    • ソースコードの説明書（前処理部分、学習部分などが分かるように明記。学習済モデルを利用した場合は、そのソース（データの所在、論文のリンク等）も明記）
    • 実行環境（OSのバージョン、使用ソフトウェア及び解析手法）
    • データの解釈、工夫点、モデリングから得られる示唆等
  5. 検収期間中、入賞候補者及び、その提出モデルが下記いずれかに該当する場合は失格となり、入賞の資格を失います。
    • 事務局からの手続き上の連絡・要求に対して指定された期限内に対応しない
    • 参加条件やルールを満たしていない
    • 入賞時の提出物の権利譲渡に同意してない
    • プログラムが動作しない
    • 学習済モデルから出力されるスコアと最終評価スコアが乖離する
    • その他、事務局が不当と判断した場合
  6. 検収をクリアした方から、入賞者及び順位を確定します。

※入賞候補者が入賞資格を失った場合は、最終スコアが次点の方が繰り上がり、新たな入賞候補となります。
※失格となった場合や不正が発覚した場合は、SIGNATE独自の裁量により、メダル・ポイントが付与されない場合があります。

参加の前提

  • チート行為やルールを無視した方法による参加は認められません。
  • 他者に対する誹謗中傷や公序良俗に反する行為を禁止します。事務局が悪質と判断したケースにおいては、入賞資格や会員資格の剥奪の可能性があることをを予めご了承のうえご参加ください。

システムの利用

  • 1人につき1アカウントのみ利用可能です。
  • チーム人数は最大で5人、2023/3/31 まで作成可能です。（チーム作成方法はこちら）

情報の取り扱い

  • コンペ開催期間中
    • コード・学習済みモデル・データ分析結果のチーム外への共有を禁止します。ただし、全ての参加者が参照可能であるフォーラムでの開示は可能です。
  • コンペ終了後
    • 「情報公開ポリシー」ページを参照ください。

モデルの構築

  • コンペで提供されたフォーマットによる新規データを入力した場合、自動で予測結果が出力されるモデルのみが評価対象となります。
  • 追加費用を伴わない（有償の外部API等を使用しない）環境下で提案した手法が再現でき、かつ継続使用が可能な実装をお願いします。

データの利用

  • 配布するデータ以外のデータを利用（学習・予測）することは禁止します。ただし、オープンソースの学習済みモデルやライブラリは使用可能です。
  • 学習済みモデルを使用する場合、入賞時にソース（論文のリンク等）を明記してください。
  • 学習用画像データの修正（手動でのラベル付けやラベルの書き換え等）は可能です。修正した場合は、後に再現できるよう手順を保存しておいてください。
  • 評価用データをモデルの学習に用いることは禁止です。

ツールの利用

  • ツールの利用は、商業利用が可能で、オープンかつ無料なもの（python, R, tensorflow 等）に限定します。

実装方法

  • 前処理、学習、予測、の3つにコードを分け実装してください。
    1. Preprocessing「前処理」
      提供データを読み込み、前処理を施し、モデルに入力が可能な状態に変換するモジュール。
      get_train_dataやget_test_dataのように、学習用と評価用を分けて、前処理を行う関数を定義。
    2. Learning「学習」
      1の出力を読み込み、モデルを学習し、学習済みモデルを出力するモジュール。
      学習済みモデルや特徴量、クロスバリデーションの評価結果を出力する関数等を定義。
    3. Predicting「予測」
      1で作成した評価要データ及び2で作成した学習済みモデルを読み込み、予測結果を出力するモジュール。

Disclosure policy

As a general rule, in accordance with Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the terms of participation, diclosing any contents such as insights and deliverables transmitted through the information or data provided by our company in relation to this competition is not permitted, however, only after the completion of this competition and for non-commercial purposes, it will be possible to disclose the contents within the score of the table below
Model *1
Public
Analysis results *2
Public
Public : Posting to social media sites, blogs and source repositories, and citing to papers
Restricted : Using in a limited range from research, education to seminars, where many unspecified people cannot access
*1 Execution unit source code and learned models
*2 The insights obtained using the information and data provided, or the solutions including scripts and processed data such as summary statistics

Terms of Participation in SIGNATE Competition

In order to participate in the Competition, you are required to agree to these Terms, in addition to the Terms of Use of SIGNATE.JP Site (hereinafter referred to as the “Terms of Use”). You should participate in the Competition after reading carefully and agreeing to these Terms. These Terms, the matters that are displayed as “additional matters” that you have agreed to when participating in a Competition, the Terms of Use and other terms and conditions that you have agreed to (hereinafter collectively referred to as “these Terms, etc.”) shall all be binding on the Participant.


Article 1 Definitions

1. For the purpose of these Terms, the following terms shall be defined as follows:

(1) “Site” means the website “SIGNATE (https://signate.jp)” on which the Competitions are posted.
(2) “Competition” means any competition on AI development or data analysis on the Site as held by the Host.
(3) “Host” is the host(s) of the Competition. The Host may be SIGNATE, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) or the Company’s client companies, affiliated companies, schools or organizations, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the “Client(s)”).
(4) “Participant(s)” means the member(s) (which mean “member(s)” defined in the Terms of Use, and the same shall apply hereinafter) who participate in a Competition.
(5) “Submissions” means, collectively, the analysis and prediction results, prediction models and reports, etc. as submitted in the Competition.
(6) “Final Submissions” means the Submissions submitted by a Participant that the Participant has specified as a final submission on the prescribed page in the Site by the time of completion of a Competition.
(7) “Winner Candidate” means the Participant who has received a notice from the Company that he/she is nominated as a winner candidate.
(8) “Submissions for Final Judgment” means the Submissions and other items designated by the Company as submitted by a Winner Candidate pursuant to the instructions of the Company.
(9) “Final Judgment” means the acceptance inspection and judgment, including reproducibility verification, by the Company for the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment of a Winner Candidate.
(10) “Winner” means the Winner Candidate who is informed by the Company that he/she has won a prize.
(11) “OSS” means software licensed based on OSS License Terms.
(12) “OSS License Terms” means any of the following license terms
(1) Either the GNU General Public License or the GNU Lesser General Public License published by the Free Software Foundation, Inc.;
(2) License terms listed at www.opensource.org/licenses/ or derivatives thereof;
(3) License terms that regard the software as “free software” or “open source software”; and
(4) License terms or agreements similar to the license terms listed in each of the three preceding items which request the user to disclose, distribute or license to a third party, or not to exercise, etc., the licensed software, its derivatives and the intellectual property rights associated therewith in whole or in part.

Article 2 Competition

1. A member who desires to participate in a Competition shall be required to agree to these Terms, etc. and to satisfy the conditions for participation as specified in each such Competition. Any person who is not a member shall not participate in any Competition.
2. Participants shall participate in each Competition in the manner as advised by the Company and shall be obligated to comply with the rules as prescribed in each Competition.
3. Participants may submit the Submissions for the assignment of a Competition during the period of such Competition and submit as many proposals on the method of solving the problem as specified by the Company to the Host by the end of the period of the said Competition.
4. Participants may submit Submissions in the form specified in the Competition and specify those Submissions as a Final Submission on the prescribed page in the Site by the end time specified by the said Competition.
5. Participants’ Final Submissions shall be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation method specified in the Competition and the final ranking shall be determined based on such evaluation.
6. Participants may, as a general rule, check their own evaluation results and the evaluation results of each of the other Participants for Submissions that may be evaluated quantitatively on the Site.
7. Participants shall be solely liable for their own Submissions, including the legality and non-infringement of the Submission.
8. Participants shall not submit any Submissions that have no direct relationship to each Competition.
9. Unless otherwise provided for, Participants may not directly communicate to, consult with, make a request to, solicit or take any other actions with the Host in respect of the matters related to a Competition during the period of the said Competition.
10. Participants shall direct any questions or concerns regarding any Competition to the Company or the third party designated by the Company in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Company as posted on the Site.
11. Participants shall produce Submissions in compliance with the OSS License Terms related to the OSS when using or incorporating OSS in a Submission. However, Participants shall not use or incorporate OSS for which commercial use is prohibited in a Submission.
12. The Host shall not be obligated to pay any remuneration or other consideration for any act of the Participants in a Competition under any pretext. And the Company shall not be obligated to pay any remuneration or other consideration other than those prescribed in the following Article for any act of the Participants in a Competition.

Article 3 Reward and Vesting of Rights

1. Unless otherwise provided for, any Participant shall satisfy the requirements set forth in the following items in order to be entitled to receive a reward in any Competition that offers a reward:

(1) To be a winner;
(2) To agree to transfer to the Host and the relevant transferee of rights in such Competition all transferable rights, such as copyrights (including the rights as prescribed in Article 27 and Article 28 of the Copyright Act, and the same shall apply hereinafter), rights to obtain patents and know-how, etc. in and to all analysis and prediction results, prediction models, reports, etc., written explanations on algorithms, source code and reproduction method, etc. (although not limited to these), and the Submissions contained in the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment (hereinafter referred to as the “Rights”) along with a guarantee that the Participant has the authority to transfer such Rights;
(3) To guarantee that any relevant transferee of rights may use the Rights contained in the Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment for its own business and other purpose without any restriction and to agree to their exclusive use of such Rights;
(4) To agree not to exercise moral rights to the Rights against the relevant transferee of rights;
(5) To enter into an agreement for the transfer of the Rights with the relevant eligible transferee of rights, including the guarantee of and agreement to the matters in the preceding three (3) items and other reasonable provisions;
(6) To have the personal identity of such Participant verified by the Company; and
(7) Not to breach any provision of these Terms, etc.

2. Any Winner Candidate shall, after having received a notice from the Company that he/she is nominated as a winner candidate, submit the Submissions for Final Judgment on or before the designated date and communicate the matters requiring confirmation or response in relation to the Final Submissions and the Submissions for Final Judgment to the Company on or before the designated date, in accordance with the instructions of the Company. The Company shall carry out the final judgment based on such matters requiring confirmation or response. If the Company receives no confirmation or response satisfactory to the Company on or before the designated date, the Company may exclude such Winner Candidate from the subject of the final judgment and the Winner Candidate shall not raise any objection thereto.
3. If the Company considers that the Final Submissions or Submissions for Final Judgment need to be amended or modified, or there occur any additional matters requiring confirmation, in the course of the final judgment, any Winner Candidate shall take action or make response in relation to the matters that require amendment or modification, or the matters requiring confirmation, on or before the designated date in accordance with the instructions of the Company. If the Company receives no action or response satisfactory to the Company on or before the designated date, the Company may exclude such Winner Candidate from the final judgment and the Winner Candidate shall not raise any objection thereto.
4. The Company shall determine the Winner through the final judgment and inform the Winner to that effect.

Article 4 Confidentiality

1. Any Participant shall treat any information and data that they receive from the Company in relation to Competitions as well as knowledge and products, etc. obtained using such information and data (including Participant Submissions; hereinafter referred to as the “Company-Provided Information”) as confidential information and shall not disclose the same to any third party and use the same for any purpose other than for such Competition and purpose specified by the Company separately; provided, however, that the confidential information shall not include any information that falls under any of the following items:

(1) Information that is known to the public at the time it was received;
(2) Information that is already possessed by the Participant at the time it was received (only in the case where such Participant may demonstrate such fact by reasonable means);
(3) Information that becomes known to the public without the fault of the Participant after it was received;
(4) Information that is independently developed by the Participant without reference to any information received; or
(5) Information that is rightfully received from any third party having a right to disclose such information without the obligations of confidentiality (only in the case where such Participant may demonstrate such fact by reasonable means).

2. Any Winner shall handle his/her Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment in the same manner as Company-Provided Information after receiving notification that they are a winner. And Participant Submissions other than the Winner’s Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment shall not be included as Company-Provided Information after the Company has determined the Winner notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
3. Any Participant may publish any algorithms that they have developed as well as any other materials they have created in connection with their participation in a Competition (including Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment) after that Competition in accordance with the Competition Information Disclosure Policy (hereinafter, "Information Disclosure Policy") posted on the Site. However, Participants shall observe the following matters when publishing information and may not publish any materials prohibited by the Information Disclosure Policy:

(1) Clarify that the materials were created in connection with participation in the Competition;
(2) Give credit in accordance with the notation method prescribed in the Information Disclosure Policy when the materials to be published contain part of a dataset; and
(3) Clarify the location accessible to all Participants (including but not limited to the Competition forum and other locations designated by the Company) where the materials are published (including links, etc.) if publishing materials outside the Competition forum.

4. Any Participant shall delete or return to the Company the Company-Provided Information (excluding the information prescribed in paragraph 3) immediately after the completion of a Competition.
5. If there is any separate arrangement in relation to the confidential information in a Competition, the provisions of such arrangement shall prevail over the provisions of these Terms.
6. If any dispute occurs between a third party and the Host or the Company due to the breach by any Participant of the provisions of this Article and such other party makes any claim against the Company or the Host, such Participant shall compensate for any damage, loss, expenses (including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees), lost profits and lost revenues, etc. incurred by the Company and the Host.
7. The provisions of this Article shall survive the termination of the relevant Competition or the Participant’s completion of the procedures for withdrawal from all services provided by the Company, with respect to the Company-Provided Information and the Winner’s Final Submissions and Submissions for Final Judgment for a period of five (5) years thereafter.

Article 5 Prohibited Acts of Participants

1. The Company shall prohibit Participants from engaging in any of the following acts in any Competition:

(1) An act of cracking, cheating, spoofing and other misconduct;
(2) An act of redistributing data files included in the dataset;
(3) An act of directly communicating to, consulting with, making a request to, soliciting or responding to solicitation or other activities to other Participants or the Host (other than the Company) without the involvement of the Company for the purpose of furthering the Participant’s own interests;
(4) Any profitmaking activities using the Competition (including but not limited to solicitation or scouting activities, and use for a third party in educational business, etc.) without the prior approval of the Company in writing or any other manner specified by the Company;
(5) An Act of transferring, offering as collateral or otherwise disposing of the Participants’ standing, or the rights or obligations, as a Participant in any Competition (except with the prior written consent of the Company);
(6) Acts that infringe upon the intellectual property rights, trade secrets or any other rights of third parties; and
(7) Any other act in breach of these Terms, etc.

2. If the Company deems that a Participant has engaged in, or may engage in, any of the prohibited acts as prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the Company may, without prior notice to the Participant, disqualify the Participant from the Competition in which the Participant participates, temporarily suspend the Participant from using some or all of the services provided by the Company, withdraw the Participant’s membership, claim damages from the Participant or take any other measures deemed necessary by the Company.

Article 6 Modification of Terms

1. The Company may modify, add or delete any provisions of these Terms from time to time without the approval of Participants.

January 21, 2023