Bulk upload of observations
A user Németh Krisztián contacted me with the question of whether I could record their 2025 observations. They have photos that are not yet recorded anywhere. It was about approximately 3300 photos and 2800 observation records. I was happy to fulfill the request.
The izeltlabuak.hu website primarily focuses on arthropods found in Hungary. This entry also deals with Hungarian fauna.
Background of the request
The user is a long-time izeltlabuak.hu user with more than 6 thousand recorded observations. Now he requested a bulk recording of his observations. He wanted to record his photos on izeltlabuak.hu, but due to their large number, it would have taken too much time, so he asked me to record them. As a developer of the website, I have fast tools for this.
He shared the photos with me on Google Drive. He organized them in folders by location. For some locations, he provided the coordinates.
Community value
Bulk upload makes it possible for large amounts of valuable natural history data to enter the system and thus be shared with the community. This is particularly important because:
- Scientific value: Photos containing location data provide accurate distribution data
- Temporal data: Creation dates help track changes in species occurrence
The task
I received a total of 3268 photos. The photos contained the observation date, and the folders contained the coordinates associated with them. Multiple photos belonged to one observation. I manually grouped the photos belonging to the same observation. I also manually assigned main categories to the observations.
Steps of the process:
- Downloading photos from Google Drive: I downloaded the photos from Google Drive.
- Photo preparation: I uploaded the photos to our own system, where they were automatically processed.
- Grouping: I assigned photos belonging to the same observation to one observation.
- Location specification: I provided the location coordinates for the photos based on the received data.
- Identifications: I manually submitted identifications for the main categories (beetles, true bugs, etc.).
- Creating observations: I created the observations with the appropriate data and assigned the photos to them.
Advantages of automation
Manual recording would have taken a long time for this many observations. The automated process was completed in a few hours, and the quality was also better because fewer human errors occurred.
Results
2800 observations and 3268 photos were recorded. This significantly contributes to the arthropod database for Hungary.
It is particularly good news that some of the observations were made abroad, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy. This way, observations can expand to other countries, and we can also see observations and photos of animals that are rare for the Hungarian fauna on the platform.
You can find the detailed results in the list of bulk uploaded observations entry.
Rare species recorded during the import:
Community service
This type of assistance is not a unique case. If you are in a similar situation and have a large amount of valuable natural history data that you would like to share with the community, contact us. We help with bulk uploads!
I am grateful to Krisztián for sharing their observations with the community on the izeltlabuak.hu platform!
