The OPAL “Indicia” project, supported by the Biological Records Centre, through the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and the NBN, provides a set of tools for constructing online recording systems. Some knowledge of website management is required to make use of these tools, but if you have the basics in place Indicia makes it quick and easy to set up online recording forms, maps and reports for a variety of biological recording activities.
Indicia has already been used to construct online recording for a range of successful projects, including:
• Mammal Society
• Orthoptera Recording Scheme
• British Dragonfly Society
• Recording Invasive Species Counts (with verification provided by a number of organisations)
• Ladybird Recording Scheme
• Wildflower Count (PlantLife)
• Ephemeroptera Recording Scheme
Projects in development include online recording for the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme and National Moth Night 2012. BRC is looking at the possibility of constructing a more general recording site using Indicia, aimed at recorders who collect information on a range of species groups, and with the intention of integrating this system with other recording systems. BRC and iSpot are looking at the potential for using this system to make iSpot observation data more easily available to recording schemes in future.
Click here for more information about Indicia
Written by Martin Harvey