IWC Database

Overview of technology and application

13th July 2010

Overview

• IWC Scheme

• Web-based application– Why?– When?– For whom?– What?

International Waterbird Census (IWC)

o Launched in 1967o Longest running coordinated waterbird

monitoring programme in the worldo Covers most of the globe with 4 regional

programmes; co-operation with North Americao Large volunteer base, 14,000+ people in 100+

countries

International Level

Regional Level

National Level

Site level

Ramsar, CMS, CBD, IBA, TWB,WPE, GAINS, NEWFLUBIRD

Regional Strategy, AEWA, EAAFP, WHSRN, species action plans and site networks

National wetland and waterbird conservation action plans and policies

Site designations, site management plans and species

conservation programmes

Existing data users of IWC monitoring information

Why IWC?

Aims of IWC

To benefit the conservation of waterbirds & wetlands

• Estimate population sizes of waterbirds

• Describe (and explain) changes in numbers and distribution

• Assess importance of sites

• Increase cooperation with organizations working towards the conservation of (migratory) waterbirds

• Identify priorities for conservation and research

• Feed results into conservation policy

• Extend the scope of application of the data; i.e. research on climate change and Avian Influenza

• Include waterbird data from additional seasons and sources

IWC web-based application

Why a web-based application?

o To accelerate data submission and integration into a central database

o To support national coordinators in countries without their own electronic data collection system

o To enable users to retrieve data to which they have access

o To improve data quality through built in checks and feedback

When - Timeline

We are currently here!

Programming and testing

Further testing and consultation with

regional and national coordinators

Live role out of functional application prototype

Development of additional features

For whom?

• Data access restricted through role allocation– The data restrictions that currently apply

will be maintained

• Roles are currently split up in:– Registered User role (viewing only)– Administrators role at global, regional or

national level (viewing and editing)

• New roles can be added or existing roles redefined

• Data can be presented in different languages

IWC database front end

o IWC main page, providing several options depending on the role of the user logging in.

o Viewing the IWC data requires a one-time free of charge registration.

- The ‘Shared Data’ menu includes the ‘Sightings Map’ and ‘Sightings Report’ options.

Registered User (public user)

• A registered user has access to two dropdown menus:

- The ‘Home’ menu includes the ‘Password and profile’, ‘Feedback’ and ‘Docustore’ options.

Sightings map

• Depending on the zoom level, sites are displayed in clusters.

• Dragging your cursor over a cluster displays the number of sites and provides the option of a site report.

• Zooming in further will display single sites.

• Maps can be exported as a GIS shapefile or image file.

Shared data – Species counts per country

• Shared data currently has 1 reporting option displaying species counts per country.

• Including supplementary reports is an easy process and additional reporting options are planned.

• Reports can be exported in several formats (xml, csv, pdf, mhtml, excel, Tiff, word)

National coordinators (Admin)

• A national coordinator with an admin role has one additional dropdown window:

-‘My data’ contains the ‘My Sightings map’ and ‘My Sightings Report’ option.

-Shared data are shown in summarized form and raw data are only made available when permission has been given for this.

DocuStore National coordinator

• National coordinators have the possibility to upload, view and edit new count data in a large selection of formats.

• The uploading, viewing and editing is restricted to the region they are responsible for.

• The current set up only allows for a direct upload onto the central IWC database restricted to the Global or Regional administrators.

•Initially data importing will occur indirectly through the submission of simple excel sheets

DocuStore National Coordinator

• New items can be uploaded directly from the user’s computer.

• Each new file requires the boxed fields to be filled in.

My Sightings Map

• National coordinators only see the sites within their country displayed.

My Sightings Report – My Sites

• The ‘My Sightings’ menu currently has ‘My Sites’ as a report option. The report displays all sites within the area the user (National coordinator) is responsible for.

My Sightings Report – My Sites

• Clicking on details displays the top 500 counts for that particular site.

My Sightings Report – My Sites

• The data provides an indication of the different fields that can be displayed and will be adjusted after consultation.

Language packs

• A Language pack is available to allow web display in different languages (French, Russian etc…)

Future additions

• Primary additional Reports– Species report displaying counts per site and year.– Site report displaying counts per species and year.

• Consultation with regional and national coordinators

• Improved spatial representation of sites• Fully automated data updates

IWC Database

Advanced technical Overview

13th July 2010

IWC application and Database

What does the application consist of:

o Back end– Relational database

o Front end (public users & admin)– Data Explorer– Reporting tool– DocuStore– Mapping Service

Data Explorer Global admin

o Data can be accessed using all the attributes present in the database.

Reporting tool

• Displays a summary report of the sites/species the user requested.

• Can be easily expanded to display additional data

DocuStore

• All updates and edits are logged

• New data submissions are archived in the DocuStore and remain accessible to users

Mapping Service Part I

• Manages the display of maps from the database.

Mapping Service Part II

• Clustered representation of site data

Mapping Service Part II

• Representation of single, unclustered sites.

Role allocation Part I

• Roles are allocated by the Portal (global) administrator.

Role allocation Part II

• i.e. user Sflink can edit/update Dutch data, but can only view Bulgarian data

Data Submission and Importing Part I

• Data check and importing:– Currently only done by the Portal Administrator– Data importing role granted to more users once

error checking system in place.

• The process currently set up:– Imports text into temporary tables– Basic error check– Imports the data if it is clean

• Submitted data can be consulted in the Docustore

Data Importing Part II

Data importing (Docustore)