The AOT methodology employs the concept of a ‘transect’, the essential idea of which is to collect data taken along a line or series of lines that cross a certain space. Collecting data via transects is a commonplace in biology, being regularly used for such purposes as monitoring butterfly numbers or estimating the size of bird populations. But transects have also been utilised in a large variety of arenas, including surveying the contents of Amerindian earthen mounds, determining levels of anti-rabies vaccinations in village dogs, and examining ecological factors under the canopy of trees growing in agricultural areas.
Source: wiktionary