I wish to raise some issues when recording abundances on the app
1)
For some (take Odonata for example), I have no option to record the precise number of individuals I have seen, only broad ranges. I appreciate that the DRS wants data in that format, but I feel that this use of ranges in entering data is generally poor practice. Record precisely, summarise later should surely be the better way of doing this. You can choose to record precise numbers on the website if you elect not to use the dragonfly recording forms, but there is no equivalent option on the app. I appreciate that in doing so you lose some of the information which the recording scheme encourages people to record.
I think users should have the ability to record precise abundances for any/all species groups on the app, and have the option to do more precise recording to meet scheme requirements (and indeed to encourage this).
2)
Entering large abundances are not possible for some species on the app. Large flocks of geese, large counts of moths - the abundance values on the app caps out and you cannot enter larger values. This is very frustrating as you have to go into the website to amend your abundances. Or at worst it can lead to grossly inaccurate data being recorded in abundance fields.
Both of these issues appear to be design choices on the app and I believe could benefit from improvements for users. I appreciate there are always compromises to be made, but sacrificing good recording practise and forcing imprecise or inaccurate data collection is not a good compromise in my opinion.
Mark Pollitt
Comments
App abundance
Hi Mark, we recognise the issues that you raise, but for now at least there are no available solutions. The number ranges for Odonata are, as you say, set up to match the requirements of the British Dragonfly Society. And although it might seem like an easy option to enable higher numbers to be entered for the abundance, this has been investigated and it is not straightforward to change the behaviour of the slider for abundance that the app currently uses. So on this occasion we can't promise any changes, although we will continue to keep this on the wishlist if possible in future.
Abundances
Very many thanks for taking the time to reply. I have to say, however, that it is extremely disappointing that the UK's main cross-taxa wildlife recording app can't cope with recording over 500 as an abundance figure. Just try explaining such things to someone who has just started using the app!
For someone who has worked with biological recording data for over 30 years, this is all rather depressing, particularly in an age when the phone in my pocket has more computing power than something which landed men on the moon...
Mark
PS Merry Christmas...
Hi Mark, we have now lifted…
Hi Mark, we have now lifted the 500 restriction for some species groups 🙂 this will be included in the upcoming app version v6.3.0 next month.
Just a bump to this message, particularly regarding abundances. Recording birds like wildfowl or wader flocks using the app is very poor, since it is impossible to enter large counts. The best one can do is to set the count to 500+ and enter the true value in the comments. This is very poor data management, and not helpfuil for county recorders or volunteers compiling information for local bird reports where app design choice limitiations causes problems in subsequent data handling. There should be a way to override the slider scale and enter large counts which appear in the appropriate data fields when downloaded.
Mark Pollitt