Processing mobile transect data in SonoBat 30
Scroll down for detailed guidance on attributing NABat metadata to audio files, scrubbing noise files, assigning automated species IDs to recordings, and exporting metadata into the NABat bulk upload template format. Updating SonoBat 30 to the most recent build is strongly encouraged.
Processing mobile transect data in SonoBat 30
Attribute Files:
1. Open the SonoBat Data Wizard and select NABat Attributer from the drop-down menu in the top left of the window. Click the folder icon in the top right of the window and navigate to the folder containing the .wav files you intend to attribute (this should be a folder for a single deployment). Next, determine if you would like to Copy and Attribute to Output Folder or Rename and Attribute in place using the dropdown option. Specify an output directory in the Output Folder section where attributed files will be saved. The right panel of the application displays the GUANO metadata present in your selected acoustic files. This will be updated as NABat metadata fields are assigned in the Data Wizard​.
​
2. Click the NABat Metadata button. In the pop-up window, select True to confirm that you are processing mobile transect data.
​
NOTE: The NABat system will estimate the location based on user-provided spatial information for the route, timestamps of each file, and the start/end times of the survey. In this case, it is critical that users provide a spatial object (a KML or GEOJSON) for the route prior to uploading NABat metadata, ensure timestamps are provided for each file, provide start and end times of the route, and leave the GRTS Cell Id column of the metadata upload blank. Instructions on uploading or drawing a spatial object for mobile transect routes is available here.​
If transects pass through > 1 grid cell:​
If transects pass through > 1 grid cell and you have a record of the X,Y location where each call was recorded (using an external GPS or a GPS enabled detector), leave the Start/End GPS and NABat Grid Cell Id fields blank. The NABat system will use the X,Y locations to auto-assign the correct grid cell id to each call. Otherwise, calls recorded outside the primary cell will produce a lat/long-grid cell mismatch error.​​​
​
3. Complete all required metadata fields in addition to any other metadata you choose to include.​​​
4. Two metadata fields, Name of Species List for Auto Id and Name of Species List for Manual Id (if Manual IDs are provided), are required fields that must be entered manually. To manually add a new metadata field, click on one of the yellow dropdown triangles and select add new…
​
-
In the pop-up menu, enter one of the NABat field names exactly as it appears here (include the NABat| as well).
-
Click the drop-down menu in the bottom left corner of the window and select Create advanced metadata field from the available options.
-
Input the value for that field and click Accept.
-
Repeat the above steps for all NABat metadata fields for which you have data.​
​
8. Click Finish in the bottom right, and then click Attribute Files. ​
​
Scrub Noise Files:
​
9. Click the folder icon in the top right corner of the data wizard window and navigate to the folder containing your .wav files.
​​
10. Click the drop-down menu in the top left and select Batch File Scrubber.
​​
11. Select medium from the filter options and ensure the appropriate frequency filter is selected.
​​
12. Click Scrub in the bottom left of the window.
​
Assign Species IDs:
​
13. Open your SonoBat 30 western [or eastern] North America application and select the regional and subregional classifier most appropriate for your survey location (this selection corresponds to the Species List for Auto ID metadata field required for data submitted to NABat). Click the I understand button in the lower right corner of the window to access the application’s primary user interface.
14. Click the SonoBatch button in the lower left corner.
​
​15. Click the folder icon in the top center of the window and navigate to the folder containing the files you intend to process.
​​
15. Ensure Append species codes to filenames? is NOT selected.
​​
16. Select autofilter in areas without low-frequency bat species and auto-low in areas with low-frequency bats present.
​
17. Set acceptable call quality to 0.80.
​​
18. Set sqnc decision threshold to 0.90.
​​
19. Set max number of calls to consider to 16.
​​
20. Click the Process button in the bottom center of the window.
Export Metadata into the NABat Bulk Upload Template​:
​​​​​
The following steps can be used to export metadata from all processed transects simultaneously, resulting in a single CSV with metadata from numerous routes, if applicable. Select the parent folder that contains all of your batch processed transects and follow the steps outlined below. The presence of non .wav files in the folder will not interfere -- SonoBat will ignore non .wav files.
​
1. NABat requests that users provide metadata for scrubbed NOISE files. However, SonoBat automatically ignores any folder labeled "Noise Files," "Deleted Files," or "Scrubbed Files." To ensure scrubbed noise files load in the SonoVet table, rename folders containing scrubbed files as NOTBAT before loading folder(s) into SonoVet
​
2. Open your SonoBat 30 western [or eastern] North America and select the regional and subregional classifier most appropriate for your survey location. Click the SonoVet button in the lower left corner to access the Project Vetter pop-up window.
3. Click the Add to Project button and navigate to the folder containing .wav files that have been processed and attributed in the above steps.
​
4. Click the Settings tab on the top menu bar and click the NABat Summary button to load the NABat metadata form.
​
​5. Click the Vetting Table tab from the top menu bar. Ensure all required fields have values and that all fields for which you have entered data are filled.​
​
5. If everything is correct, click the Export tab from the top menu bar. Select a destination folder to save the metadata file and select Output null as an empty cell from the dropdown menu in the bottom center of the window. Give the CSV file a unique and descriptive name.
​
6. Click Save to File.
​
7. Open the CSV containing your mobile transect metadata. Sort the metadata document by the Audio Recording Name column.
​
8. Click File, then Save.
​
Your metadata is now ready for upload to the NABat Partner Portal.​
​