A few suggestions for additions/improvements to Observado.org and ObsMapp

Gestart door dereliev, juli 08, 2014, 15:18:19 PM

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dereliev

Hi all,

I have been using Observado.org and ObsMapp since January this year and have moved most of my past bird (and mammal) records into the database. I am therefore relatively new to the system, but have been greatly enjoying using it.

I would like to post here a few suggestions for additions/improvements of some small elements of the website and the app. Please excuse me if these have already been suggested and discussed earlier, but most of the forum is in Dutch and I do not speak Dutch.

1) Copying records - I have been birding with a friend of mine, who is also using Observado.org and ObsMapp and sometimes only one of us is entering the records in the field, while the other one is copying them later on when logged in on the website. I found it somewhat unnecessary that I have to click each individual record in order to copy it. This is especially time consuming when we speak of a few hundred records made a day. It would have been much easier to integrate a master check box to allow selection of all listed record on the page in either 20, 40, 6o or 100 raw view.

2) Listing observed vs heard birds/mammals - the lists generated do not filter out the records of only heard birds/mammals from the observed ones. I would very much like the list to split the species which have been recorded only by sound as I would like to be able to have an overview of which species have been visually observed and which ones I have only heard. For this purpose, I would suggest to integrate a check box in both Observado.org and ObsMapp, something like "Only heard", which hopefully will allow to segregate the observed from the heard only species in the generated lists.

3) Species map does not display in lists when only sub-species is entered - I noticed that for records of species which have been entered only with one or more of its sub-species the map in the generated lists will not display. For example, I have Eastern Gorilla (Gorilla beringei), but the map of the species in my life list would not display, because I have entered a single record of Eastern Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei). If I want to see the map of my observations, I have to click on the sub-species, rather than on full species. Is this a bug or is it meant to be this way? If it is the latter, can it be changed so that I can see all the observation of a species on a map irrespective of its sub-species?

Thanks for considering these suggestions.

Best regards,

Sergey Dereliev

hiskodevries

Sergei, would you like to extent your remarks with links to the screens you mention.
Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

dereliev

Hi Hisko,

I am posting in three separate messages PDF files with screen shots + explanation for each of the three suggestions. Please let me know if any further clarifications are needed.

Here are attached the screenshots for suggestion 1.

Thanks and regards,

Sergey



hiskodevries

Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

hiskodevries

#6
suggestion 2 with link http://observation.org/lijst_v3.php?user=98102&g=1&local_list=0&local_list=1&fam=0&jaar=0&maand=0&prov=0&rar=1&s%5B%5D=S&s%5B%5D=I&exo=0&esc=0&sorteer=alfa&f=0&sound=0
( so much easier then opening a pdf)
http://observation.org/lijst_v3.php?user=98102&g=1&local_list=0&local_list=1&fam=0&jaar=0&maand=0&prov=0&rar=1&s%5B%5D=S&s%5B%5D=I&exo=0&esc=0&sorteer=alfa&f=0&sound=0
i understand what you mean. but we have 40.000.000 observation records with no tag seen/heard  so a seperate option to set this is not an option.
You can do it for yourself .
create two  tags http://observation.org/user_tags/all
'Only heard'
'Only seen'
and tag your observations with one of these tags, or use only the tag with the least number of observations
in your lifelist you can select on these tag(s)

This is an example with my tag 'tuinlijst' (Gardenlist) http://waarneming.nl/lijst_v3.php?user=23&g=0&local_list=0&local_list=1&fam=0&jaar=0&maand=0&prov=0&rar=1&tag=2&s%5B%5D=S&s%5B%5D=I&exo=0&esc=0&cdna=0&sorteer=alfa&f=0&sound=0
Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

hiskodevries

#7
i understand suggestion 3 is just released on observado
inclide http://observation.org/user_gmap_xx.php?user=98102&from=2013-09-06&to=2014-07-09&grid=1000&g=2&z=1&id_soort=83633&r=0&p=0&all=0&per=0 with relevant subspecies if species is selected
Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

dereliev

Hi Hisko,

Thanks for your feedback and thanks for putting suggestion 3 on your to do list!

A couple of reflections on the other two suggestions:

Suggestion 1 - you can delete only your own data. What I suggested is to put a master check box for selecting records of other users where the only action you are allowed is "copy". In such a way there will be no risk of deleting selected records.

Suggestion 2 - currently under "activity" you can select "calling" or "singing", but this indeed does not mean that the bird/mammal has not been also observed. If by adding extra activities, for example "only heard calling" and "only heard singing", can help to filter these species into a separate sub-list when generating your life list, this will be a fine solution. Otherwise, the lack of such a distinction within the list generation, from my point of view, is a limitation for listing purposes. The database I used to use before Observado had such a functionality and I found it very useful.

Thanks and regards,

Sergey

hiskodevries

Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

dereliev

Hi Hisko,

Thanks for the hint on the tags. In indeed helps, but it is a half-way solution as it still requires some considerations when you apply those tags and you need to spend time figuring out your life list of observed vs only heard species as those tags are applied to individual records. Automating this process would have been a very elegant approach.

Thanks for already implementing suggestion 3. I checked my example with the gorilla and I can see now the map of the full species, albeit without the little dot of the observation within the red square. However, the map display of the sub-species is now disabled and I can now see there the Pacific Ocean.

Thanks and regards,

Sergey

hiskodevries

the 'tag' option
can be used in your lifelist, observation list and foto`s

http://observation.org/user/view/98102
http://observation.org/user/photos/98102
http://observation.org/lijst_v3.php?user=98102&g=1&local_list=0&local_list=1&fam=0&jaar=0&maand=0&prov=0&rar=1&tag=243&s%5B%5D=S&s%5B%5D=I&exo=0&esc=0&sorteer=alfa&f=0&sound=0
I see you already found it.

Howto tag existing observations ? Open the observation and click on the right panel on the tag ->ready
if you add an observation you see (after submitting) your tag(s) on the same line as edit/adding photos etc. Just click on the tag->ready
Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

hiskodevries

CiteerI checked my example with the gorilla and I can see now the map of the full species, albeit without the little dot of the observation within the red square. However, the map display of the sub-species is now disabled and I can now see there the Pacific Ocean.
check again.
Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

dereliev

Hi Hisko,

The gorilla maps are now displayed correctly for both the full species and for the sub-species. Thanks for implementing this so swiftly!

Many thanks for the further explanations on the tags, very useful indeed. It however still requires some fiddling to figure out which ones I have only heard. For example, I have three records in the database of Goldcrest, only one of which is tagged as "Only heard" and that record displays in my life list of only-heard species, while I have actually visually observed it. Thus I have to be very careful and selective in applying this tag and have actually to cross check for each species whether I have more records amongst which could be a visual observation.

Thanks and regards,

Sergey

hiskodevries

Citeerwhich ones I have only heard
that`s correct. we have no functions where you can compare two or more parameters.
for example which species i ONLY saw flying, or which species i ONLY saw by train
Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0


dereliev


dereliev

Hi again Hisko,

In this link (http://observation.org/lijst_v4.php?user=98102&g=1&local_list=0&local_list=1&fam=0&jaar=0&maand=0&prov=0&rar=1&tag=243&absolute=0&absolute=1&s%5B%5D=S&s%5B%5D=I&exo=0&esc=0&sorteer=alfa&f=0&sound=0), next to the field for selection of tags to be filtered, there is this check box "Show only species with all observations tagged". However, I can't see this check box when I am trying to recreate the same query. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks and regards,

Sergey

hiskodevries

as said lijst_v4 is a test screen, you can not find this on observation.org. Only use the link i supplied http://observation.org/lijst_v4.php?user=98102
if this screen works as should i will implement it on the site
Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

dereliev

Thanks for the clarification Hisko, I must have missed earlier that this is just a test page yet. If and when implemented on the website, this functionality will very useful indeed. It works just fine with my tags of "only heard" species.

Thanks and regards,

Sergey

hiskodevries

Was getekend Hisko de Vries.

Wil je een fotovraag stellen op het forum lees dan dit eerst https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=452369.0

dereliev

That's great Hisko, thanks for implementing this option!

Thanks and regards,

Sergey