System Overview

The System was developed to collect data from Sighting Records for Southern African Birdlife in a Spatially-enabled GIS environment. By doing this, it becomes possible to view data against the backdrop of Interactive Maps and gain a clearer understanding of the Movements of Individual Species on the ground. Currently there are many active Birders and Environmentally-aware people who could help record data if the Tools were provided and this system not only provides the Tools to Capture and Record Data, but also the Tools to Retrieve and Analyse that data as well. More than this, the system provides many additional datasets such as Vegetation Zones, 3-D Relief and 1:250,000 Topographical Sheets which help the User gain further insights on Why species choose the areas they do.

Analysing Data

The data can be Analysed by Users together with the data entered by all the other Users over the same Map. This makes it possible to Track the Timing & Arrival of Migrants Species as well as the Movement of Local & Altitudinal Migrants as well.
a) Records can be Filtered by showing only the records for the Month or Season the User selected. This would show a number of Records during a Summer month for a Summer Migrant, but None/very few during a Winter Month.
b) Colour-rendering is an Analysis Method that Colour-ramps the records per Month or per Season. Using this method may show a mix of colours for Resident birds that are present all-year round. Alternatively, it would show mostly Red/Orange Colours for Summer Visitors, or mostly Blue Colours for Winter Visitors.
c) Finally, records can also be Analysed by Grid Density. This method uses the 1:50,000 Grids to Colour-Ramp the grids depending on the number of Records per Square.

Background Datasets

The use of the 3-D Relief dataset should show a preference for Mountain/Rocky-outcrop species to be found in those such Areas, while Species requiring gently rolling countryside should be seen shown in areas with a smoother Relief.
The Satellite Image will provide an idea of What the terrain actually looks like.
There are a number of Vegetation Zone datasets which will show clearly Food and Habitat preferences that Species prefer over other areas.
In addition, datasets such as the 1:250,000 Topographical Images for All of Southern Africa are available for Gold Users, (South Africa for Silver), will help to provide a greater understanding of Farm boundaries, Contours, Perennial/Non-perennial rivers and a greater overall detail. Further datasets such as 1:250,000 1:50,000 1:10,000 and 1-Degree Grids can also be displayed. The question of "What falls within 100km of a City Center?" can be answered by turning on the '100km Radius' Dataset.

Map Navigation

Using the Map is fairly straight-forward with the Toolbar providing the Navigation to Zoom and Pan. Other Tools include the Scalebar which shows the Current Map-Scale as 1:x as well as a Distance Measure set in kilometers. The Users can also see the current X,Y co-ordinates that are displayed in the Bottom-of-the-Browser in Decimal Degrees.

Adding a Record

Capturing a Record onto the System is relatively straight-forward and can be done by the following :
a) Select the Species from the Family and Species Drop-downs and Press "Display"
b) Zoom-In to 1:300,000 or less (See Scalebar)
c) Click the "Bird button" on the Toolbar
d) Click the Point on the Map where the Species was seen
e) Enter the Date, Time and Other fields
f) Optionally Add a Photo
g) Optionally Change the Sensitive Drop-down to "Yes" if you do not want other Users to be able to see the Record
h) Press "Submit"

Should you wish to Attach a Photo to the Record and Upload it, please ensure that it is Approximately 300x200 pixels, in JPG format, and less that 100Kb in Size. Anyone else then can View your Photo of your Sighting simply by Pressing the "I" button on the Toolbar, and clicking the dot for your Record. This will retrieve the Data you submitted and your Photo you Uploaded (presuming you did Upload one)