Field records & data
Field Observations
Every field visit, every measurement and every photograph that SCC students record — once a faculty reviewer has checked it. This page will become the portal's data record for Allen Branch and other sites.
Approved observations
Submit an observation →No field observations have been published yet.
The first records will come from faculty-led reconnaissance of Allen Branch. Until then, this page describes exactly what each record will contain, so that students can prepare. See the methods and the Allen Branch checklist.
Submitting from the field
Students send observations from a phone with the observation form: take or attach up to six photos, and the form reads the date, time and GPS position saved in them (many phones remove the position when sharing with a website, so the form can also use the phone's current location or a point tapped on the map). Then add the site, conditions, any measurements and who was there, and send the entry with the class code.
- Photos are shrunk and re-saved on the phone without their hidden data (camera model, exact position) before they are sent.
- Nothing is public until a faculty reviewer approves it. Reviewers remove any photo that shows a recognizable person, license plate or home.
- Names appear only for people who chose to show theirs; otherwise the credit is "SCC Biology students".
Observation data dictionary
Each observation record has the fields below. Measurements are stored as separate records with a unit, method and quality-control flag (see the measurement dictionary).
| Field | Content | Required |
|---|---|---|
| site_id, station_id | Field site and sampling station | Site required; station once established |
| observed_at, observed_at_source | Date and time with time zone, and where it came from (photo timestamp, the phone's clock, or typed) | Yes |
| observers | Student researchers and faculty present (public display honors consent) | Yes |
| latitude, longitude, gps_accuracy_m, location_source | Position, its stated accuracy, and where it came from (photo GPS, the phone's location, a map point, or typed) | Recommended |
| weather, air_temperature_c | Conditions at the time | Yes |
| rain_note | Recent rainfall (last 24–72 hours) and where it came from (e.g., Kentucky Mesonet station) | Recommended |
| water_temperature, ph, specific_conductance, dissolved_oxygen, turbidity, transparency_tube, nitrate_n, orthophosphate_p | Measurements, each with a fixed unit, the method or kit, and whether it was below the detection limit | As measured |
| water_depth_cm, flow_observation | Depth at a marked point; flow category | Yes |
| canopy_cover_pct, canopy_method | Canopy cover and how it was measured | Yes |
| substrate | Bedrock, boulder, cobble, gravel, sand, silt/clay, wood, leaf litter | Yes |
| visible_biofilm | None, thin, thick, mat or floating | Yes |
| photos | Up to six: upstream, downstream, stream bed and close-ups, each with a caption. Re-saved on the phone at up to 1600 pixels without embedded metadata; the time, GPS position and camera read from each original are kept as separate fields for the reviewer and are not published per photo | Recommended |
| suspected_organisms | Provisional morphotypes or genera with identification level | If examined |
| notes | Anything else observed | Optional |
| receipt, status, review_note, reviewed_at | Receipt number given to the student (FW-…); status: uploading → waiting for review → changes requested, approved (published) or rejected → archived. Review notes are never public | System |
Review and publication
- Draft. Students fill in the form; it is saved on their own phone until they send it.
- Waiting for review. The entry goes to a private database that this public website cannot read. A faculty reviewer checks units, methods, calibration, photographs and identifications.
- Changes requested, approved or rejected.
- Published. Only approved entries appear here and on the map. Entries are archived rather than deleted if they are later corrected.
Unpublished entries, review notes, and the names of students who did not choose to show them are never public and are never stored in the site's public code repository. Online submission is switched on by faculty; until then the form runs in practice mode and sends nothing. Faculty use the review page (instructor key required).