The FlySpotter© software was developed to provide a house fly monitoring system that is simple, efficient, and reliable over time.  Since the 1970’s, blank white index cards ("spot cards") have been used by researchers to monitor house fly activity.  Spot cards are placed on vertical structures (e.g. roof support beams) at locations where house flies are seen to rest. Flies that land on these cards will leave “fly spots” (regurgitation and fecal spots) on the cards.  Spot cards are replaced every 7 days, and the number of fly spots on each removed card is counted with the average count for all cards recorded as the fly activity count for the preceding week.  An increase/decrease in the average number of fly spots from one week to the next indicates a similar increase/decrease in house fly activity. Weekly activity counts can be compared over weeks, months, or years to evaluate long-term change in house fly activity at the monitored site.  Additionally, the success of fly control measures applied during the previous week(s) can be assessed by the level of change in fly activity as determined by a change in the average number of fly spots on the spot cards.

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Because counting fly spots on a spot card is tedious work, FlySpotter© was developed to rapidly count the fly spots on each spot card for you!  Now, weekly house fly activity can be determined in just a few minutes. Simply place spot cards on a flatbed scanner to create a JPEG image file (the same way you would scan a family photo).  Load the image into the FlySpotter© program below, and the software will count the fly spots and record your data!  If you set up a facility profile in the program for long-term house fly monitoring, you can view past spot card counts and compare new spot counts to those in previous weeks, months, or years.  Activity counts can also be exported to an Excel file for additional analysis if desired.