Atlas of Living Australia

Atlas Mobile Applications

Robyn Lawrence — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:12:55 +0000

Mobile apps are now available and downloadable for iPhone/iPad/iPod and Android devices.

Explore Your Area

The mobile application allows users to retrieve lists of species recorded within an area, view details of the species such as recorded distribution, scientific name, common names and images.

Search for species and submit a sighting

Users can submit species occurrence records i.e. sightings, together with an image directly into the Atlas of Living Australia.

Check out the latest images

View all the latest images uploaded to the Atlas, including yours.

Download the app and for more information

The mobile app has been installed by thousands of users. To get your free download:

OzAtlas – Apple version (iPad & iPhone/iPod)
OzAtlas – Android version

Blitzing Science. In 30 hours.

Lynne Sealie — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:11:04 +0000

Sorting specimens found on the beach survey at Bermagui Bioblitz

People from all over the far south coast of NSW came together for the thirty-hour Bioblitz in and around Bermagui on 30-31 March. About two hundred adults and children, accompanied by local experts, searched the beaches, pools, wetlands and forests to find every living thing they could. And find them they did. They collected so many sightings of plants, animals, fungi, seaweeds and marine debris, that the data are still being counted. With experts on hand to help with identification and validation, the collected and digitised data will form a robust dataset.

The organiser, Libby Hepburn from the Atlas of Life in the Coastal Wilderness, was delighted with the broad community support for the first Bermagui Bioblitz, including the local council (Bega Valley), Bermagui Fisherman’s Cooperative, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Bournda Environmental Education Centre, the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority, bird watching groups, schools and teachers, and many other volunteers and helpers. From further afield, the Australian Museum, the Atlas of Living Australia and CSIRO Discovery all helped. Auswide provided and supported the computers, networks and data entry.

An intrepid ABC journalist and sound recordist collected stories and photos at the Bioblitz, and have written a wonderful eye-witness account of the two days, along with photos at: http://open.abc.net.au/openregions/nsw-south-east-39PC5zX/posts/crowdsourcing-for-science-52fs5py

Survey Templates

Owen Butler — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:38:10 +0000

This page contains a list of pre-built survey forms that you can use within your portal as required. These forms have been prepared with expert input and use existing established data standards. It is therefore strongly recommended that your use these forms without making changes to any of the existing fields or field content (eg. select lists) as making changes will break the standards compliance and will result in difficulties in aggregating data. Please refer below for explanation of Authority Status Categories.

Each survey is packaged into a ZIP file which can be uploaded into a blank new survey within any portal of the FieldData software. On upload it will unpack and create a new survey which is pre-populated with all of the same parameters and formatting of the original survey. However it will not have any pre-defined locations. These will need to be added by editing the “Locations” step in the survey builder. For taxonomic surveys, the imported survey inherits the existing portal taxonomy. If import a survey that requires specific species or groups of species (eg. weeds), then it may be necessary to also import those species via the method described in Managing Taxonomy 2012 [.docx 2.5KB].

This is not a definitive list. It can and should grow over time as more standardised data collection forms are developed as a result of need. To upload a survey simply:

Instructions

Click on the required survey and download/save it to your local drive.
Open “Administration > Manage Projects > Manage Surveys” in your FieldData portal and click “Add Project”.
Click the “Import Survey” button and navigate your folders to select the relevant downloaded ZIP file.
Edit the map component of the survey to set the desired default map view and zoom level appropriate to your area.
Add your local locations to the survey as required.
Start using the form.

Note, It may take a while for the survey to appear in the projects listing, so please be patient.

Project/Survey Templates

Biological Survey Forms

Survey Name	Description	Version	Date	File	Autority Status	References
Observation – Simple any species	Use this form to record simple observations of any species. This template may be used as a basic form into which you may like to add more data attributes that you are interested in. To make this form taxonomy or group specific, simply change the taxonomy component of the survey accordingly.	1.1	17/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Observation – single site multi-species	Use this form to record simple observations of multiple different species at the same location and observation event. This template may be used as a basic form into which you may like to add more data attributes that you are interested in. To make this form taxonomy or group specific, simply change the taxonomy component of the survey accordingly.	1.1	17/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Observation – Weed Tracker	Use this form to record simple observations of weed species and upload photos of the species.	1.1	13/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Biological Survey – Transect Trapping	Use this form to record the results of transect-based trapping activities such as pitfall trapping, hair tube trapping, elliot trapping, and any other form of transect-based trapping. This form is based on a single site multi-species form where each trap location on the transect is treated as a separate “site” and each trap visit is a new record.	1.0	17/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey

Natural Resource Management and Activity Forms

Survey Name	Description	Version	Date	File	Autority Status	References
Project Management Form	This form is designed to record project related information associated with an activity or set of activities such as other forms listed in this section. It is important that this form is used in conjunction with, and as an umbrella for, all other activities as this will enable activity data to be analysed on a project basis and effectively aggregated for Programme, MERI, and SOE reporting and also for monitoring implementation against CAP Plan and Management Plan targets. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.0	02/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Activity – Community Event	Use this form to record information about all community activities held, such as information sessions, training events, field days, etc. Data recorded on this form provides important statistical data for reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.0	02/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Site Assessment – Rapid Method	This form is designed to record the core/basic habitat condition attributes of a site and is intended for use by novice assessors to provide a consistent set of site condition indicators of biological health. This form should not be used for comprehensive assessments of site condition. Data recorded on this form provides important benchmarking and monitoring data for statistical and reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.0	02/04/2012	NO Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References R.J Hnatiuk, R. Thackway & J. Walker (2008) Field Guide for Vegetation Classification – version 1. Bureau of Rural Sciences
Site Assessment – Hab.Ha. Method	This form is designed to record site condition attributes using the Habitat Hectares assessment method. It is intended for use by competent/expert assessors to provide a consistent set of site condition indicators of biological health. This form should be used in preference to the “Rapid Assessment” form wherever possible. Data recorded on this form provides important benchmarking and monitoring data for statistical and reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.0	02/04/2012	NO Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Site Assessment – Wetlands	This form is designed to record site condition attributes for wetlands. It is intended for use by competent/expert assessors to provide a consistent set of site condition indicators of biological health. Data recorded on this form provides important benchmarking and monitoring data for statistical and reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.0	02/04/2012	NO Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia, Australian Government : http://www.environment.gov.au/water/publications/environmental/wetlands/directory.html Aquatic Biodiversity Assessment & Mapping Method (AquaBAMM) : http://wetlandinfo.derm.qld.gov.au/wetlands/SupportTools/AssessmentMethods/AquaBAMM.html
Works – Tree Planting	Use this form to record all information about tree planting activities. Data recorded on this form provides important statistical data for reporting purposes and also provides occurrence records of planted species to the Atlas of living Australia. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.0	02/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References R.J Hnatiuk, R. Thackway & J. Walker (2008) Field Guide for Vegetation Classification – version 1. Bureau of Rural Sciences
Works – Weed Management	Use this form to record information about weed control and related intervention activities. Allows locations to be mapped as points and areas. Data recorded on this form provides important statistical data for reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.1	10/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Works – Habitat Restoration	Use this form to record information about restoration and protection intervention works activities to reconstruct terrestrial habitats following natural or man-made disturbances such as fire events, storms or floods, drought, road/building construction, mining activity, rubbish/chemical dumping, etc. Data recorded on this form provides important statistical data for reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.0	05/04/2012	NO Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Works – Stream Restoration	Use this form to record information about restoration and protection intervention works activities in stream beds and banks. Data recorded on this form provides important statistical data for reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.1	15/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Works – Wetland Management	Use this form to record information about management activities in/on wetland areas. Data recorded on this form provides important statistical data for reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.0	02/04/2012	No Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey
Works – Fire Management	Use this form to record information about fire management intervention works activities such as managed fuel reduction burns, or wildfire suppression activities. Data recorded on this form provides important statistical data for reporting purposes. Please do not modify this form once it is loaded into your portal.	1.1	17/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey

Survey Name	Description	Version	Date	File	Autority Status	References
Location Supplementary Data	Form for recording additional location scoped data elements (eg. slope, aspect, soils, etc.). This is generally static physical attributes of a location that will not change over time, allowing the location/site to be effectively re-used across different projects within a portal and still maintain contextual relevance in each.	1.0	02/04/2012	Download	Lodged	Show / Hide
	References No references are currently provided for this survey

Authority Status Definitions

Lodged	Form is available for public use, but has not yet been expert verified as standards compliant.
Expert Verified	Form fields, structure, and content of select lists have been verified and endorsed by a recognised subject matter expert. These forms can be confidently used to collect standards compliant and scientifically meaningful data.
Superceded	Form template is still available for use, but has been superceded by an updated version. Note that new versions must be compatible with older versions, otherwise a new form should be lodged. Forms which supercede older forms must bear the same project name as the file being superceded.
Deleted	Form has been removed from the library. Placeholder remains in the list for reference purposes.

Template Library

Owen Butler — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:37:23 +0000

New Page 5 April 2012 – placeholder for the Library of shareable and reusable templates Home Page

Templates being developed for the library include:

Standard Survey Templates
Standard Reporting Templates
Standard Species Profile Import templates

17th Century Dutch explorers help the Atlas reach a major milestone – 30 million records!

Lynne Sealie — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:32:11 +0000

The ALA website provides access to a huge variety of information about Australia's biodiversity, online tools and mobile apps.

Media Release 28 March 2012

The Atlas of Living Australia added its 30 millionth species occurrence record last week, making it the largest collection of rich information on Australia’s plants, animals and fungi.

The Atlas, a collaboration between all Australian museums, herbaria and biological collections, CSIRO, Adelaide and Southern Cross Universities and the Commonwealth Government, reached this milestone when over half a million records from Birdlife Australia were incorporated. Some of these records come from the diaries of 17th Century Dutch navigators, such as the record for a Brush Bronzewing dated 1629.

“The Atlas is a unique national repository for rich data on all Australian life forms – from bacteria to kangaroos, land-based to marine, native and non-native,” says Dr John La Salle, Director of the Atlas of Living Australia.

“Together with information about the whole range of Australian species, the Atlas contains many different types of data, including photos, distribution, maps and mapping tools, DNA sequences, scientific and common names, conservation status, identification keys and heritage literature.”

The Atlas provides access to over 350 large and small datasets, from the NSW Government’s Atlas of Wildlife to the records of a community group who look after a local creek.

Dr John Hooper from the Queensland Museum, Chair of the Atlas Management Committee and Chair of the Council of Heads of Australian Faunal Collections (CHAFC), noted: “This is a substantial milestone for the Atlas community. The array of records and tools now available are providing value to researchers, teachers, students, natural resource managers and anyone who would like to know more about the living world, identify species or understand their distribution.”

One of the applications in the Atlas, ‘Explore Your Area’, allows you to enter an address or location to find the recorded species nearby. At the click of a button you can create a list and map of species that have been found in your local area and photos of most of them.

“Local and traditional knowledge is invaluable for tracking where Australian animals and plants are distributed across the country. Even if a plant or animal is common in your area, it may never have been officially recorded there, only because no-one has conducted a technical survey of what’s there. If the species list is incomplete, it only takes a few minutes to add your own sightings and photos of Australian species.” said Dr John La Salle.

For further information, interviews and photos, please contact Lynne Sealie on 02 6246 5901 or 0419 876 370 or Dr John La Salle on 02 6246 4262 or 0419 303 453.

New ID tools for rainforest plants and environmental weeds now online

Lynne Sealie — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:24:04 +0000

Rainforest key in IdentifyLife

Identification and information tools for rainforest plants and environmental weeds are now online at ‘Keys Central’ section of IdentifyLife at www.identifylife.org

Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants – http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/rfk/index.html

This key is an interactive identification and information system for 2154 species of trees, shrubs and vines of northern Australian rain forests. New modules are being developed on orchids, herbs and ferns. This key was developed over 40 years by a team including CSIRO, the Australian Tropical Herbarium, the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre and the Federal Government.

Environmental Weeds of Australia – http://www.business.qld.gov.au/agriculture/land-management/weed-identification-tool.html

This online invasive weed identification resource to over 1,000 weed species was developed at The University of Queensland with support from the Cooperative Research Centre for Weed Management with funding from Biosecurity Queensland.

You can access a multitude of identification keys and tools from the Keys Central section on the IdentifyLife site. The IdentifyLife team at The University of Queensland and Western Australian Herbarium are developing a global platform for developing, storing and sharing descriptive data for the world’s organisms. The IdentifyLife project also aims to develop an online identification tool, a “Key to All Life”.

If you have any queries or would like more information about IdentifyLife, please contact Audrey Jinks on A.Jinks@uq.edu.au

Acacia nilotica mature fruit. Photo: Land Protection, QDNRW.

: Acacia nilotica leaves and flower clusters. Photo: Land Protection, QDNRW.

Data quality

Robyn Lawrence — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:51:06 +0000

The Atlas of Living Australia Data Quality portal summarises data quality checks, key documents and links. Available here »

Dena Paris — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:31:17 +0000

Communications

Dena Paris — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:44:13 +0000

Change location of a sighting

kalmsie — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:12:30 +0000

How do I change the latitude/longitude of a sighting I entered in the Atlas?

You can change or fine tune the location (latitude and longitude) of a sighting you entered into the Atlas in two ways.

Begin by selecting the sighting and displaying it on a map. Then:

Select and drag the orange dot on the map that represents your sighting and move it to where you want it to be. Then press ‘Save’ or ‘Save Changes’.

Enter the required latitude/longitude in the location box; the map will move to the new location. Then press ‘Save Changes’.

Manage your data

kalmsie — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:51:26 +0000

Learn how to:
- Change the location of one of your sightings

Director’s Update by Dr John La Salle

Lynne Sealie — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:37:21 +0000

Dr John La Salle, Director of the Atlas of Living Australia

I have had an exciting first four weeks as Director. It has been truly amazing to me to see just how much Donald and his team have accomplished.

To quickly bring you up to speed, the last year has seen the Atlas and its partners mobilise large amounts of biodiversity data, and deliver new tools for analysing and mapping data. The Atlas now provides access to close to 30 million occurrence records contained within 350 datasets, together with 170,000 Australian species pages. Additionally, the web site was updated with a new ‘look and feel’ in mid February.

So if it’s been a while since you looked at the Atlas site, I would encourage you to have another look – you may find new data and features at www.ala.org.au and the Spatial Portal http://spatial.ala.org.au/.

The Spatial Portal has been substantially upgraded and enriched with around 270 environmental and contextual mapping layers and myriad searching capabilities. You can now use your own mapping tools with data downloaded from the Atlas or use your own data with the Atlas’s mapping tools. Learn more about what you can do in the Spatial Portal, as well as look at some examples of research projects, at http://www.ala.org.au/faq/spatial-portal/.

The Atlas has also delivered new software and tools to capture field data online.

‘My Profile’ is another recent improvement in functionality, where you can update your registration details, view your sightings and manage your alerts. We have also initiated an ‘opt in’ update service – if you were on the previous mailing list for the Atlas newsletter, you will now receive a short update on Atlas developments via a blog post listing every month (read how to change your alert settings).

In parallel with these developments, user demand has grown strongly, with the Atlas now getting over 31,000 hits per month.

Two of my key priorities as the new Director are to ensure the long-term viability of the Atlas and maintain stakeholder engagement – particularly from the existing core partners and the now wide set of stakeholders gaining value from Atlas systems.

It will be a very busy period for me as I try to catch up with all the developments that have been happening in the Atlas. However, while I am working through this learning curve, I hope to catch up with as many of the Atlas partners and stakeholders as possible – so I look forward to meeting with many of you in the near future.

And lastly, if you have used the Atlas and found it helpful, could you please email Lynne at info@ala.org.au – she is collecting short stories about the various ways people are using the Atlas.

More updates …

Announcing – New version of OZCAM available – powered by Atlas infrastructure. Read »
New version of AVH available soon powered by Atlas infrastructure. Read »
Volunteers make a difference at the Australian and South Australian Museums. Read »
Come along to Bermagui Bioblitz – 30 and 31 March 2012. Read »
Recent Field Data software training course for Citizen Science groups. Read »
New ways to keep in touch with the Atlas. Read »
All recent blog posts. Read »

New ways to keep in touch

Robyn Lawrence — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 01:34:15 +0000

The Atlas has changed its methods for keeping you informed about significant developments.

We now have a means where you can receive email alerts about new blog posts on the website with a choice of frequencies. This replaces the previous quarterly e-newsletter.
We have an RSS feed that broadcasts all new blog posts.
We have a Twitter account that lets you follow incidental Atlas’ stories.

To view all blog updates, click here »

If you previously subscribed to receive the newsletter, we have created an Atlas account for you to receive Atlas blog posts on a monthly basis. You can opt out altogether or change the frequency!

If you wish to have your account deleted and receive no blog post email notifications, please email info@ala.org.au

How to set your blog email alerts

MyProfile & Login in the header

Click the My profile link in the header, then Manage email alerts about new items added to the Atlas. (See images below).

(If you have not logged in you will be initially redirected to the Login page, where you will need to type your registered email and password).

Users without a pre-existing Atlas account

For those of you who asked to receive a newsletter (generally prior to April 2011), but did not have a pre-existing Atlas account – we have created a default account for you – to receive monthly blog posting updates from the Atlas.

Read about details of your default account and resetting your password »

Click to see Full Edit Profile

Users with a pre-existing Atlas account

If you had asked to subscribe to the Newsletter in your My Profile, then we’ve changed your account to receive monthly blog posting update alerts from the Atlas.

If you did NOT subscribe to the Newsletter, then we have not set any alerts. However, you might consider signing up for them.

Email Alerts

It is as simple as clicking on Manage email alerts, choosing the frequency in the pull down list and clicking on the alert buttons you require to ‘Enabled’ or ‘Disabled’.

Email alerts - more than just blog posting alerts

Email Alerts change the frequency by the pull down frequency list

Email alerts are disabled by clicking on the disable button

Your new Atlas account

Robyn Lawrence — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:08:26 +0000

The Atlas has changed its methods for keeping you informed about significant developments via regular blog news postings, RSS and a Twitter account.

The quarterly e-newsletter has been discontinued and replaced with regular blog news items posted on our site. To be alerted about these posts via email you need a My Profile account on the Atlas site.

If you previously subscribed to receive the e-newsletter (generally prior to April 2011) and did not have an Atlas account, we have created one for you in order to send you new Atlas blog postings on a monthly basis. You can opt out altogether or change the frequency.

An Atlas My Profile account allows you to contribute sightings and images to the Atlas, track sessions within the Spatial Portal and ask to be alerted of any new additions to the Atlas, including Atlas blog news postings.

Once you have logged in, you can alter the frequency or enable/disable your blog posting alerts. Read how »

If you wish to have your account deleted and receive no blog post email notifications, please email info@ala.org.au

Default Atlas accounts

In all the headers is a ‘My profile’ and ‘Log in’ (or ‘Log out’) link. Click the Log in link.

MyProfile & Login in the header

The email you registered with us for the Atlas newsletter is the email to use for your Atlas login. Your default Password has been assigned based on the name portion of your email address. That is the characters before the ‘@’ in your email address. If your email name portion is shorter than six characters you will need to repeat your full email name portion, until your password exceeds six characters.

We ask that you reset your password from the default one we provided.

Some Email and Default Password Examples:

Example Login Screen - Password would normally be obscured

Email	Password	Comments
john.doe@gmail.com	john.doe	Greater than 6 chars, use all email name
martin@yahoo.com	martin	Exactly 6 chars, use all email name
alan@gmail.com	alanalan	Less than 6 chars, repeat email name until >= 6 chars
jo@yahoo.com	jojojo	Less than 6 chars, repeat email name until >= 6 chars

How to reset my password

The Login page has a link to Reset Your Password.

Reset Your Password

Pressing the ‘Send Password Reset Link’ button will send you a link to your email address allowing you to enter a new password. There is a time limit of 48 hours.

Volunteers make a difference at the Australian and South Australian Museums

Lynne Sealie — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:51:12 +0000

From their own computers, volunteers can help the museum unlock information held in collections

The Australian and South Australian Museums, in partnership with the Atlas of Living Australia, have completed two highly successful projects – proving the value of mobilising a volunteer workforce for digitisation and transcription activities.

As part of the project, both museums recruited and trained volunteers to help digitise part of the museums’ collections and have made this information publicly available through the Atlas.

For their project, the Australian Museum recruited and trained a group of volunteers to image specimens, labels and archival material. These labels were then placed on the Atlas’s ‘Volunteer Portal’ where crowdsourcing is used to transcribe the labels.

The ‘Volunteer Portal’ is a place where anyone can join a virtual “expedition” and find and record information about specimens of cicadas, hawk moths, scarab beetles and more. So far over 9000 specimens have been successfully transcribed using these “virtual volunteers”.

Read more about the development of the Australian Museum’s Volunteer Portal, and how it works, in an interview with Paul Flemons, Manager of the Collection Informatics Unit at the Australian Museum. Paul has been a key driver of the digitisation project from the start.

The South Australian Museum recruited and trained a small group of volunteers to photograph special insect specimens (holotypes) for identification and research purposes. The volunteer team have so far photographed and digitised more than 2000 holotypes from a collection of 8000. More about the SAMA project.