The Atlas and Yet another listing app!

By Birding-Aus, on October 17th, 2014

Grahame, It is also my understanding that there are plans to revamp the Atlas portal and that Birdlife have been appealing for funds to start that work. Perhaps Andrew you could let the list know what is happening? Many on the list may feel inclined to support the project and even contribute to design and functionality if that opportunity exists. As a long term “Atlasser”, I consider it would be a great shame indeed if the increasing volume of field work registered on e-bird and Eremaea did not contribute to what is now a long term and very rich database created over decades by dedicated “citizen scientists” and professional ornithologists. (the current Atlas registers 677,000 surveys covering 318,000 sites) It has the great advantage (to me) of being moderated to preserve data integrity and I have quite rightly been asked for more detail to justify some of my entries which involved rarities or range extensions. The fact that I am a life member cuts no ice at all and nor should it! But the Atlas portal as it stands has the disadvantage of little personalisation. As an Atlasser I consider that I am contributing to an extremely valuable and long term endeavour but you don’t get too much back for personal records and data manipulation. if the richness of personal utility could be enhanced it would now be really something! (on the other hand, it is undoubtedly more straightforward and economical to follow the “KISS” principle). Double data entry has never really appealed – life’s too short. So I shall continue with the Atlas as for me the contribution to the national biodiversity record holds more value than any personal record – but that’s just me. My Atlas species list from surveys is I think around 590, no idea what my total Australian list is. Seems to me that convergence of aims and objectives and some integration with appropriate data integrity would be just fantastic if achievable! And one thing I have learned in my humble career is that it is often cheaper and easier to re-engineer than to try to build utopia from scratch. Good birding all on the list – whatever directions the passion takes you, banding, photography or personal listing etc (and with a fervent hope this generates light more than heat!) Graeme > Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 09:09:16 +1000 > From: gwrogers@bigpond.com > To: birding-aus@birding-aus.org > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Yet another listing app! > > When Eremaea eBird was launched, there was mention of a specific > BirdLife Atlas entry form to ensure all the Atlas data was included in a > list. Currently I use the Other Area input form, but a lot of the > information required has to be entered in the Comments field – not a > very satisfactory process. And there is no certainty that the data will > reach the Atlas as there was with the old Eremaea. > I understand there are plans for a new portal to the Atlas, but eBird is > here and now, and brilliantly easy to use. It would take very little > effort to add an Atlas entry form to Eremaea eBird. > If you would use such a form, please let Eremaea and BirdLife Australia > know: > http://help.ebird.org/customer/portal/emails/new?t=412380 and > andrew.silcocks@birdlife.org.au > If there is enough interest we may get a form! > > Regards > Grahame Rogers > > On 17/10/2014 8:32 AM, Dave Torr wrote: > > My understanding is that Eremaea used to be able to send stuff to the BA > > atlas. Not sure if that happens with eBird? > > > > On 17 October 2014 09:29, Martin Butterfield <martinflab@gmail.com> wrote: > > > >> Given the way the message from Konkoit appeared, I like many others > >> assumed it was spam and thus likely to lead to getting a few things I > >> didn’t want as well as those advertised. Since no-one from Konkoit has > >> seen fit to disabuse this list of that notion, I at least will be staying > >> well away from it. (I find eBird to be very good for my purposes.) > >> > >> A point raised in this thread has been that of data being held in multiple > >> locations. I see that as an important issue given the role of data in > >> informing EISs development approvals etc. This isn’t to say there > >> shouldn’t be multiple data capture mechanisms but the results should all > >> end ‘somewhere’ agreed to be the official repository. > >> > >> Martin > >> > >> Martin Butterfield > >> http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/ > >> > >> On 17 October 2014 07:52, Peter Shute <pshute@nuw.org.au> wrote: > >> > >>> Yes, before one rejects a new listing system perhaps one should consider > >>> whether it’s better than previous ones. Has anyone tried this Konkoit > >>> database? > >>> > >>> I agree with your final point about validation. As far as I know, this > >>> does distinguish eBird from many others, and it would be hard to beat it. > >>> > >>> My memory of Dave Torr’s project, if it’s the one I’m thnking of, was > >>> that it was primarily intended to collate information about birding sites – > >>> locations, maps, brochures, etc. A good idea, and I don’t think it has been > >>> made fully obsolete by the likes of eBird.

Birding-Aus mailing list
Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org
To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

andrew.silcocks

October 20, 2014 at 3:24 pm

Just to clarify questions about birdata and the Atlas. BirdLife Australia is developing a Bird Conservation Portal that will include: – an upgraded birdata interface and an app for our programs – an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) site database – coordination of site surveys and volunteer support – HANZAB online (searchable) – Australian Field Ornithology and Emu online – ornithological library resource – State of Australia’s Birds and an Australian Bird Index Birdata is squarely aimed at long term structured monitoring and lots of work has gone into ensuring it will be more user friendly, avoid multiple data entry and provide real time feedback. It will allow local groups to set up their own pages (with maps and tables etc) and moderate data for long term monitoring projects. You will also be able to share data with your eBird list. The portal is a core priority for BirdLife Australia. We want to promote structured site surveys more widely so we can apply robust science to protect birds. Work on the portal is underway but clearly it is an ambitious project that requires ongoing funding. Thanks to everyone who has supported this exciting project so far. The science portal and Eremaea eBird are very complementary – eBird users are skilled citizen scientists and we’d like to more people to participate in our conservation programs. Regarding the issues people have been reporting with Birdata, Andrew Silcocks has provided the following comments: Birdata was created to be the online data entry portal which fed data into the master Atlas database, which was offline. The two are linked so that data can flow between the two databases. Unfortunately the link from the master database to Birdata has been giving up problems, which means that not all of the data are displayed in the statistics and maps. We haven’t had any problems with the master Atlas database, which safely houses all of the data. With the development of the new Bird Conservation Portal, a new Birdata will be completely revamped and will become the master database. At the moment, all of our resources are going into funding the new portal, so the problems with the current/old version of Birdata probably won’t be resolved. Apologies for the inconvenience and confusion this has caused. Rest assured, all of the data in the BirdLife Australia Atlas are safe and being put to good use. Enjoy the weekend and don’t forget to take part in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count. Paul Sullivan BirdLife Australia [Aussie Backyard Bird Count] Count me in! I want to register for the first ever Aussie Backyard Bird Count 20-26 October 2014 Click here to register

tarburton.m

October 18, 2014 at 8:03 pm

G’day Graeme & other readers From gleaning all the swift & swiftlet records I can from as many sources I can, I am finding that e-bird often has 2-5 records of the same group trip, and I am finding that some of these are being filtered out by the Aussie atlas but but not all. biocache can have even more duplicate entries as it takes from numerous sources, and I spend much time amalgamating duplicate entries. It gets very frustrating. Ideally it would be best to have just one program to send Aussie data to. But little in this world is ideal. Please do not give up placing your observations in one atlas or another, and PLEASE GIVE ONLY ONE DATE & PROVIDE THE NUMBER OF EACH SPECIES YOU SAW. E-bird has data from the birdlife atlas and they have really messed up some of the dates – where a period is given rather a single day. Cheers & Happy birding Mike

BirdLife Australia

October 18, 2014 at 1:26 pm

Just to clarify questions about birdata and the Atlas. BirdLife Australia is developing a Bird Conservation Portal that will include:

– an upgraded birdata interface and an app for our programs
– an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) site database
– coordination of site surveys and volunteer support
– HANZAB online (searchable)
– Australian Field Ornithology and Emu online
– ornithological library resource
– State of Australia’s Birds and an Australian Bird Index

Birdata is squarely aimed at long term structured monitoring and lots of work has gone into ensuring it will be more user friendly, avoid multiple data entry and provide real time feedback. It will allow local groups to set up their own pages (with maps and tables etc) and moderate data for long term monitoring projects. You will also be able to share data with your eBird list.

The portal is a core priority for BirdLife Australia. We want to promote structured site surveys more widely so we can apply robust science to protect birds. Work on the portal is underway but clearly it is an ambitious project that requires ongoing funding. Thanks to everyone who has supported this exciting project so far.

The science portal and Eremaea eBird are very complementary – eBird users are skilled citizen scientists and we’d like to more people to participate in our conservation programs. I’m sure Andrew Slicox can comment on the specifics and add further comments.

Enjoy the weekend and don’t forget to take part in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count.

Paul Sullivan
BirdLife Australia

gestev45

October 17, 2014 at 8:57 pm

Thanks Trevor, Delighted if that is the case. I assume the eBird records will go through the same moderation process and that must be generating quite a workload. Just as an aside: I notice on eBird that when browsing recent entries there are often multiple entries for what appears to be the same survey or outing. e.g. say a group of 5 observers visit a site and record 23 species – there are at times five different entries all for the same 23 species. I do hope the Atlas moderator ditches 4 of the 5??? or we would surely be biasing abundance ratios etc. I wonder if that is the case? Best Graeme

trevor.hampel

October 17, 2014 at 8:31 pm

On 17/10/2014 10:54 AM, Graeme Stevens wrote: Hi everyone, After a long debate with myself about what to do with my many thousands of bird records going back many years I have recently started entering my bird observations into E-bird. It clearly states on the site that all records feed into the Birdlife Australia Atlas Database: /*Eremaea eBird feeds into the Birdlife Australia Atlas database and is used to help make conservation decisions for Australian birds. In this way any contribution made to eBird increases our understanding of the distribution, richness, and uniqueness of the biodiversity of our planet. */Mind you, the above quote took me a while to find, but there it is, so I am entering data as quickly as time and energy allows. In the early Australian Atlas days I contributed many hundreds of sheets but over the last decade that effort has dwindled to zero due to personal reasons. It concerned me that all of my observations going back to the mid 1970s would languish unused on my computer database (Birdinfo). Ebird is my way of continuing to make a valuable contribution to conservation. I hope that this helps to clarify the Atlas question regarding Ebird. Trevor — Trevor Hampel, Murray Bridge, South Australia. CHECK OUT MY BLOGS: Trevor’s Birding: http://www.trevorsbirding.com/ Trevor’s Travels: http://www.trevorstravels.com/ Trevor’s Writing: http://www.trevorhampel.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/TrevorHampel

martinflab

October 17, 2014 at 1:10 pm

As a slightly different flavour to this, before I started on eBird my records for the COG Area of Interest were submitted via COG and I know they are in Andrews database. However they don’t show up in the maps. Andrew was asked a few days ago why this is so, and the answer, when available, may be the same for eBird records. Martin Martin Butterfield http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/ On 17 October 2014 13:28, Peter Shute < pshute@nuw.org.au> wrote:

peter

October 17, 2014 at 12:28 pm

My bet is that it’s bound to be somehow related to funding. Peter Shute

Jennifer Spry

October 17, 2014 at 12:18 pm

Hi all, I am sure Andrew will be able to give more accurate information on this but I have the same problem as Peter, my data from 2010 hasn’t been put up yet either. A possible reason is that every data sheet or digital lodgement is checked for accuracy of the sightings before it is uploaded. Maybe they are just running behind. cheers Jenny http://jenniferspryausbirding.blogspot.com.au/ On 17 October 2014 13:05, Peter Shute < pshute@nuw.org.au> wrote:

October 17, 2014 at 12:05 pm

I believe the birdata web site isn’t directly linked to the Atlas database, so new data doesn’t show up until they refresh it. I asked in 2010 why my data wasn’t showing up, and was told they were due to do an upload soon. Unless I’m doing something wrong, it’s still not showing on the maps. Peter Shute

October 17, 2014 at 11:01 am

Steve, Sounds like it would be good to have some feedback from Andrew on that as well (Sorry Andrew) and perhaps current status of just what integration is happening (or not) from other data feeds – and what functionality is planned? Graeme

bukoba.steve

October 17, 2014 at 10:39 am

Something that has been bugging me for a while is that Atlas records I submit via birdata.com.au never show up on the maps subsequently. Deters me from doing more of this. Steve On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 11:24 AM, Graeme Stevens < gestev45@hotmail.com> wrote:

Birding-Aus

The Atlas and Yet another listing app!

11 comments to The Atlas and Yet another listing app!

Mailing List

Book Search

Meta