Credit: Crystal Birdsall
Data quality assurance and control
The NABat Partner Portal features a number of automated warnings to help users ensure their monitoring data is complete and accurate. These warnings appear to the right of the project map on the user's project homepage. Common data QA/QC warnings include:
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Survey Details Incomplete
The "Some survey details are incomplete" warning indicates that a survey event has been created and saved without required metadata. The warning includes a table to indicate which metadata is missing (e.g., Survey Start/End Time, Location, etc.). This typically occurs when a user manually creates a survey deployment through the NABat user interface rather than through the bulk upload template.
1. Click the incomplete survey’s link in the QA/QC table to be ushered to the survey’s details.
2. Click the green Edit Survey Details button to fill in any missing metadata. If location data is missing, users may resolve that manually via drawing tools or by uploading a KML/GeoJSON file.
Survey Locations Unused
The "Some survey locations are unused" warning indicates that a spatial object (point, transect, or GRTS cell) has been saved as a survey location but no survey events have been associated with that site. This typically occurs when a user manually saves a location using the drawing tools on the project map or uploads a spatial object as a .kml/.geojson file but fails to provide survey metadata. The warning serves as a reminder to project members that the location has been saved and should either be associated with a survey event or deleted.
Users may associate unused locations with existing surveys manually:
1. First identify the GRTS cell of the unused location (hover over the point on the project map to reveal the GRTS ID).
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2. Data for a project’s GRTS cells is located beneath the project map. Scroll to the desired GRTS cell and expand its content to find and open the desired survey.
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3. Click the survey's green Edit Survey Details button. A location (used or unused) may be selected from a dropdown menu within the editing tool, linking said location to the survey.
Users may also associate unused locations with existing surveys using the Partner Portal's Bulk Upload tool:
1. Simply enter the location name (must match exactly) to the “Location Name” (acoustic data) or “Site Name” (colony counts) data columns within the bulk upload template.
Show Unknown Locations
The "Show Unknown Locations" warning indicates that a location has been provided at the GRTS cell level without X,Y coordinates. This can occur when users manually create a survey event through the user interface and indicate the site is an "Unknown or undisclosed location" or when users provide metadata through the bulk upload template with GRTS cell values but no latitude or longitude. Unknown locations are not necessarily errors; some users prefer to provide data at the GRTS-cell-level rather than the point level. In these cases, the "Show Unknown Locations" warning can be ignored. However, users may prefer to provide more detailed location information.
Click the Show Unknown Locations button to expand the table and view all unknown locations.
Users may manually add X,Y coordinates to an existing location. The user must create a new point within the target GRTS cell and migrate surveys from the unknown location:
1. Begin by clicking the link to the unknown location within the table; the GRTS cell containing the unknown location and its data menu will appear in the project map.
2. Mark a point on the map to replace the current unknown location, clicking the green Edit button to add a name and specific X,Y coordinates if desired.
3. Return to the “Show Unknown Locations” table and click the link to the original unknown location to begin migrating surveys to the new, coordinate-specified point. If surveys exist for the unknown location, they are displayed in a summary table below the location details. Click any present survey to expand its details in the list of project GRTS cells beneath the project map.
4. Click the survey’s green Edit Survey Details button. The new, coordinate-specific location may be selected from a dropdown menu within the editing tool, migrating the survey from the unknown location.
5. Repeat for all surveys within the unknown location.
6. When finished (i.e., the unknown location contains NO surveys), again follow its link in the “Show Unknown Locations” table. Use the resulting menu options to permanently delete the location from the project.
Show Possible Duplicate Locations
This warning indicates that the project contains ≥ 1 survey location(s) within 100 m of another saved location. Often, this occurs when a survey location is established and minor variations, either in the latitude/longitude or the location name, are introduced in subsequent survey years. This warning does not necessarily indicate an error. In some instances, survey locations may be within 100 m of another survey location, particularly for hibernacula surveys or emergence count events. However, in most instances (especially for stationary acoustic surveys) survey locations should not be within 100 m of another site, and these locations should be combined into a single survey site.
Click the Show Possible Duplicate Locations button to expand the table and view all possible duplicate locations. To resolve duplicate locations:
1. The user must choose a location among the duplicates to survive in the project; the remaining duplicates are to be deleted after having their surveys migrated into the surviving location.
2. To migrate a survey out of a location, begin by clicking the location’s link in the “Possible Duplicate Locations” table; the location and its data menu will appear in the project map. A location’s surveys are viewable in the summary table at the bottom of the data menu.
3. Click any survey link within that table to be ushered to the survey details. Click the green Edit Survey Details button, then use the drop-down location options to reassign the survey to the chosen location.
4. Repeat this process for all surveys in a duplicate location; once the duplicate location is empty of surveys it may be deleted from the project.