PROCESSING ACOUSTICS IN KALEIDOSCOPE PRO

Select the acoustic survey type for which you have data

Important Update to the Kaleidoscope Pro Workflow

Older versions of the NABat xml form for Kaleidoscope Pro required two separate processing steps using two separate xmls: first, embedding metadata to the acoustic files, and second, reading those processed data to a meta.csv output file. The new NABat xml form and updated workflow completes everything in one step.

Updated versions of Kaleidoscope Pro now provide SAWG GRTS 1.0 as a classifier option and processing outputs now report MLE scores. Updates to the NABat Stationary Acoustic Upload Template are coming soon to ingest MLE scores.

Processing Stationary Point Surveys

1. Open Kaleidoscope and click Browse to select the input directory of the folder containing your .wav/.zc files. Select the box beside the type of input files (WAV files or ZC files). Select a folder containing all data for a single detector deployment (all nights at a single site). This is the broadest selection for which all files will share the same metadata (site name, latitude, longitude, etc.).

NOTE: Download the required NABat metadata form here. Use NABat STATIONARY Survey Metadata Form for Kaleidoscope Pro (v20251120).xml for use when processing stationary acoustic data.

2. Click the drop-down menu beside Default Project Form and select Add or Replace a Project Form. Navigate to NABat STATIONARY Survey Metadata Form for Kaleidoscope Pro (v20251120).xml and select the file. The NABat metadata form will now load in the bottom of the INPUTS section (the left half of the Kaleidoscope window).

3. Complete all metadata fields for which you have data. Required fields include:

GRTS Cell ID or Latitude and Longitude
Site Name
Survey Start Time
Survey End Time
Surveyor(s)
Auto ID Software
Name of Species List for Auto Id
Name of Species List for Manual ID (if manual ID is provided)
Audio Recording Name
Audio Recording Time

Some fields require specific formatting. Hover the pointer over a field for formatting tips and/or a list of accepted entries.

CAUTION: Scrolling mouse over drop-down boxes will scroll through options and may result in unintentional selections. Avoid this by scrolling through form using the gray scroll bar on the far right and double-check form entries before processing.

4. Once all required metadata fields and any additional fields for which you have data have been completed, select the desired output directory to save processed files by clicking Browse in the top right of the window.

5. Once the output directory has been selected, choose Nightly from the Create subdirectories drop-down menu to keep new files organized by detector night. Next, select the type of output files you intend to create, WAV or ZC (ZC files cannot be converted to WAV).

Users with zero crossing files that end in the .# extension rather than .zc should select the 8.3 file names and Use .zc instead of .??# options below ZC files. Otherwise, Kaleidoscope will remove the seconds from the filename, increasing the likelihood of duplicate filenames (resulting from distinct files recorded within the same minute) which will create errors when uploading metadata to the NABat database.

6. Next, click the Auto ID for Bats tab at the top of the window. Select Bats of North America from the Classifiers drop-down menu. Select + 1 More Accurate (Conservative) from the drop-down menu at the top right and select your state/region from the drop-down menu below the list of species. Species can be manually added or removed based on specific knowledge of species assemblages in your area, but this must be reflected in your NABat species lists used for Auto Id and for Manual Id.

NOTE: Updated versions of Kaleidoscope Pro now provide SAWG GRTS 1.0 as a classifier option via the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) species lookup by GRTS ID field. Under this field, select your sampling frame in the drop-down menu and enter your GRTS ID in the open field. Leave the above Select by region option blank.

7. Click Process Files in the bottom right corner of the window.

8. Manual verification of auto-identified species is not required for upload to the NABat Partner Portal. Users who intend to manually verify auto-identified species may review audio files when Kaleidoscope Pro has finished processing. NABat guidance recommends manual verification of a minimum of one audio file per species per night to establish presence-absence.

9. If your detector model automatically embeds a date/time stamp into call files, these data should auto-populate and appear in the Audio Recording Time column of the Kaleidoscope Pro id.csv output. If so, you may skip the renaming process. However, before uploading metadata to NABat, ensure that the Audio Recording Time column contains data. Otherwise, file names must adhere to NABat's naming format (e.g., GRTSCellId_SiteName_Timestamp.wav or .zc) and users should follow the guidance in step 10. If the Audio Recording Time column successfully auto-populates, you may skip to step 11.

10. To rename files, follow the instructions in NABat's R script for renaming acoustic files. Rename all files to ensure they are consistent with NABat naming format and to remove the _000 appended by Kaleidoscope. NABat naming format: GRTSID_SITENAME_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.wav/zc.

11. Navigate to the current output directory folder and open the id.csv file. Check to ensure all fields for which you entered data are filled and ensure one or both of the Auto Id/Manual Id columns are filled.

12. Rename the id.csv file with a descriptive and unique name and save. The NABat system will automatically overwrite duplicate file names in a given project with the most recent version, so it is critical that your file name is unique.

NOTE: Extra columns/field names are included in the id.csv as a byproduct of the MLE calculation. It is okay to delete these fields before uploading data, it is also okay to leave them, they will be ignored and not ingested into the NABat database. Additionally, the MLE scores will be ignored and not ingested into the NABat database until corresponding updates to the data upload template are completed (coming soon).

Processing Mobile Transect Surveys

1. Open Kaleidoscope and click Browse to select the input directory of the folder containing your .wav/.zc files. Select the box beside the type of input files (WAV files or ZC files). Select a folder containing all data for a single detector deployment (all nights at a single site). This is the broadest selection for which all files will share the same metadata (site name, latitude, longitude, etc.).

NOTE: Download the required NABat metadata form here. Use NABat MOBILE Survey Metadata Form for Kaleidoscope Pro (v20251120).xml for use when processing stationary acoustic data.

2. Click the drop-down menu beside Default Project Form and select Add or Replace a Project Form. Navigate to NABat MOBILE Survey Metadata Form for Kaleidoscope Pro (v20251120).xml and select the file. The NABat metadata form will now load in the bottom of the INPUTS section (the left half of the Kaleidoscope window).

3. Complete all metadata fields for which you have data. Required fields include:

GRTS Cell ID or Latitude and Longitude
Site Name
Survey Start Time
Survey End Time
Surveyor(s)
Auto ID Software
Name of Species List for Auto Id
Name of Species List for Manual ID (if manual ID is provided)
Audio Recording Name
Audio Recording Time

Some fields require specific formatting. Hover the pointer over a field for formatting tips and/or a list of accepted entries.

CAUTION: Scrolling mouse over drop-down boxes will scroll through options and may result in unintentional selections. Avoid this by scrolling through form using the gray scroll bar on the far right and double-check form entries before processing.

Spatial information for the route should be uploaded or drawn prior to completing these steps and uploading metadata. Guidance for providing spatial data for the route is available here. Ensure that the Site Name you provide with call metadata matches the name of the spatial object you upload or create.

If your mobile transect passes through > 1 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 GRTS Cell ID field blank. The NABat system will use the X, Y locations to auto-assign the correct GRTS cell to each call. Otherwise, calls recorded outside the primary cell will produce a Latitude-Longitude/GRTS ID mismatch error. If Latitude and Longitude are embedded in your call files, the Kaleidoscope metadata form will extract those values and auto-populate the metadata output. If Latitude and Longitude values were downloaded from a GPS unit, see step 13.

If you are unable to provide the X, Y location where each file was recorded, the NABat system can 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 for the route prior to uploading 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.

4. Once all required metadata fields (and any additional fields for which you have data) have been completed, select the desired output directory to save processed files by clicking Browse in the top right of the window.