@Patrick-Walton that's definitely the hope. I haven't figured out exactly the best way to do that yet but it's on the list of upgrades for sure.
They do have what they call level IV ecoregions, I believe, which are smaller divisions of the ecoregions we're currently using, but I think they only have them for the USA and not any other parts of the world.
But it would be very cool to be able to zoom into a tiny local habitat and explore.
@Patrick-Walton Thank you! I really appreciate it.
That's amazing if your son can find some value in it. I think it is something I would have enjoyed at that age, especially if the knowledge base and community grows.
I thought I would give a quick summary of how we process species data and how people can help to make it better.
All of our data is currently collected from publicly available datasets, with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) being our main source. One role GBIF plays is storing and aggregating data from a large number of other sources into one place. You can see a full list of our data sources here.
Once we have all of the data we do some processing and make sure it meets certain criteria that we want. The two biggest things it must have are the scientific name and location data (mostly in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates). We then map those coordinates onto our ecoregion map.
We're always looking for more data!
One easy way of doing this is by using an app such as iNaturalist (or anything similar) where you document species out in nature (with a location!), it gets identified by you or others on the platform, and then they make the data available for public use. I'm not sure if most of the apps make their data publicly available but I know iNaturalist does.
Then as we update our data, your species observation will eventually make it into our dataset.
If you have a dataset you can also publish it to GBIF or a similar platform. There are requirements on what information the data must contain as well as for formatting. But if it meets their requirements it most likely meets ours as well.
You can also share datasets with us but they aren't that likely to be used unless they are relatively large and formatted well. Processing data can take a lot of time and creating a custom process for each dataset is hard, so publishing to a site like GBIF that already has standards in place is very helpful.
We add a category label to each species so that our data can be filtered by the more general labels we use in everyday life instead of the scientific classification, for example Aves -> Birds, Reptilia -> Reptiles, etc.
For a lot of species this is pretty straight forward, where the scientific classification maps straight to our general label as above. But what I came to learn is this is not always the case. Trees (and a lot of plants and fungi) do not map to a scientific class the way mammals do, all mammals are in the scientific class Mammalia, but Trees do not all live in the same scientific class. They can be spread over several classes, orders, families, etc. This makes the categorization process a little tougher and more time consuming.
Right now, instead of leave out the species that we haven't gotten around to categorizing yet, we just put them in a category called "Unplaced". What you can do to help is look at those species and flag them. Say 'hey this is a wildflower', or whatever, the main thing is the flag gets our attention to look at it and update the category.
Sometimes our distribution maps for a species aren't quite right. Maybe there was a mapping error, but usually a species observation gets into the dataset that is incorrect. Then you end up with things like a terrestrial animal mapped to a marine ecoregion or vice versa.
Again, flag it! If you see a distribution that looks obviously wrong, flag it and we will take a look.
I just wanted to note that any updates to our species data won't happen immediately. For flags on categorization and distributions, those will happen pretty quickly, but for adding species and datasets that can take some time. I'm not sure yet on what schedule we will be adding new species to the dataset.
Hi I'm Stefan. I started this project with the help of many others. I grew up in the woods, which I think planted this seed. My background is kind of all over the place. A little bit of farming, geography, engineering, aboriculture, and computers all smushed up together. I'm happy to be here!
We think this topic works best as a list of introductions without discussions, so please only post your intro here - if you want to say hi or discuss anything, please use a PM or start a new topic.
The forum follows the same code of conduct policy as the main Ecotenet site. Those guidelines can be found here but we will give an additional overview and forum specific guidelines below.
Please do not do any of the following:
Insult or harass other members.
Bump topics.
Derail topics.
Post links to phishing sites.
Post spam.
Create topics/replies for the sole purpose of causing unrest on the forum.
Repost closed or deleted topics.
Repetitively post in the incorrect topic.
Post any topics/replies containing porn, offensive/inappropriate content or anything else not safe for work. This includes links to websites with that sort of content.
Pose threats of violence, harassment or blackmail (even as a joke).
Discriminate in regards to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, income, race, national origin, or religion (or lack thereof).
Use abusive language, including swearing.
Create and use multiple accounts/sockpuppets.
Also remember:
Please avoid gratuitous negativity. Critical thinking is good; shallow cynicism, on the other hand, doesn't add much value to the community. If you have something important but negative to say, that’s fine, but please say it in a respectful way.
Not every new person knows where to find which information so try to be as helpful as you can.
Posting altered swears with asterisks or other symbols that are still recognizable as swears is considered swearing and is not allowed.
Moderation is at the complete discretion of the moderators. There’s no time to send out PMs to ask you to make certain changes and we won’t edit posts for you if we get that request.
Respect the privacy of PM (Personal Message) conversations, where what is acceptable is a matter for ALL parties and not just for one of the parties.
Please let the moderators do the moderating. If you see a person breaking the rules, just use the “Flag Post” button or simply ignore the offensive post(s).
If your post is deleted please check the General Rules (above).
Contact @moderators by PM if you have any questions about moderation.
Repeat offenders of the above rules and guidelines will be warned or immediately banned. Any moderator has the ability to ban a user for violating the rules at their discretion.
Welcome!
This is the forum for the Ecotenet platform. The forum is a place for people to have more in-depth conversations related to nature-based knowledge. We're glad you're here and are excited to build a community together.
If you haven't already head over to Ecotenet to explore.
Check out our forum guidelines here.
Before posting a topic, look at all the categories and try to select the one you think fits best.
General Discussion: If there is anything you feel like talking about that doesn't fit into one of the categories below this is the place to put it.
Ecoregions: Topics that relate to a specific ecoregion. Select the proper ecoregion from the subcategories.
Sections: Topics that relate to subcategories on Ecotenet but may span multiple ecoregions.
Comments & Feedback: Have any questions, comments, or feedback about the site? Post them here.
Support: If you run into a problem, technical or otherwise, on the site post them here.
Enjoy!