eBird Global Now Beta-Testing
Eurasian Kestrel, Morocco, photograph by George Armistead.
eBirders spoke, and we listened. Back in August of 2009 we surveyed eBirders and asked what application development was 'most wanted'. The most popular answer was the ability to enter data worldwide. We realized that birders want to keep ALL their data under one roof, and we responded by developing global data entry capacity this year.
This was a complicated process, the first step being the development and implementation of a worldwide taxonomy. The second step was building the back-end infrastructure to handle worldwide data. Because eBird data are spatially referenced, we had to find and incorporate new worldwide layers to enable bird listing in all countries, states, etc. The last and still on-going step, is the development of species checklists for data entry, data quality filters that sit behind the scenes and 'flag' records of rare and unusual birds at the local level, and the development and coordination of a network of volunteer regional editors who help vet data (we have hundreds of these volunteers in the US alone!). We're always looking to build new worldwide partnerships, and we rely on the help of our users to build the best checklists and make sure the data are correct. Please contact us (ebird@cornell.edu) if you'd like to help with these tasks as we expand globally.
The new eBird Range Maps are an exciting new development. Now that eBird is Global in scope, we needed a way to visualize data at that scale. We set out to do the following in the first iteration of these range maps: 1. show species' ranges worldwide based on eBird data (Caveat: these will obviously be sparse for many species until more worldwide data come in!); 2. use two grid levels (100 and 20 km) that show more refined ranges as you zoom in; 3. show all "negative data", in other words, show not only where the birds are, but where they are not; and 4. show all data for all years. These maps are in beta, and are only updated a few times a week, so be patient if you add data since it might not show up for a few days! Once officially launched these grids will likely be updated nightly.
Click on the image below to take the new Range Maps for a test drive:
Thanks to all eBirders for their support this spring. Your contributions have made it possible for us to Go Global!
Team eBird
