SITE UPDATES
January 19, 2010:
~the winning picture and the other 7 finalists from the 2009 photo contest are now posted.
January 18, 2010:
~the 2009 photo contest has now ended and the final results, based on 120 eligible photos, have been determined and posted. Our thanks to everyone who submitted images. Though you won't be in the running for a prize anymore, please continue to submit images along with your records whenever possible because a photo confirms a sighting and vastly improves the quality of atlas data. Resources permitting, we will run the contest again in 2010. Stay tuned!
December 6, 2009:
~the database functions of the online reporting and registation forms have been re-coded. Among other bug fixes and tweaks, photos of all sizes should now upload correctly and consistently.
October 22, 2009:
~awarded and added the first batch of monthly winners for the photo contest.
~added French versions of the "FAQ" page, "Submit Your Data" page, "Downloads" page, "Online Reporting Form", and downloadable "Reporting Card".
~added a NEW VERSION of the Excel form. This one automatically looks up Latin names, is bilingual and automatically creates translations for all standard fields. You may need to give Excel permission to run the included macros. Please always download and use the most recent version.
~rewrote the "Registration Form" so that it is bilingual.
~updated the "Contact Us" page, "FAQ" page, and "Species List" page.
August 27, 2009:
~added photos of all 35 species. Photos are accessible by clicking the camera icons on the species checklist page. The checklist page also received some minor layout enhancements.
August 12, 2009:
~correction: the registration form is now linked correctly.
~the Excel form has received a minor update.
~breaking news: French versions of the laminated identifier cards are now available.
August 10, 2009:
~the registration form is now online.
July 23, 2009:
~rewrote the html code for the online form. The page should now download significantly faster. The content has also been tweaked. Note that, to eliminate a parsing error in the atlas database, the use of commas has been disallowed. This was achieved by a small script that disables the comma key on your keyboard, but ONLY within the form.
~please keep the size of your photos fairly small (under 1 Mbyte) by cropping out non-essential stuff, reducing the DPI to 96, and resizing the photo. Some loggers have told us that they get an error when attempting to upload an occurrence record that includes a photo. This seems to happen only occasionally and has something to do with excessive load on the server. Do not dispair - your data still uploads successfully, so please don't re-submit anything. In the case of an unsuccessful photo upload, please email it/them to Oliver as an email attachment, along with a short explanatory note.
June 22, 2009:
~added some promotional tools to the downloads page
June 19, 2009:
~Ontario Nature has secured funding to take this atlas project province-wide. Oliver is, once again, your primary contact for eastern Ontario. In addition to offering more presentations, he will be conducting combinations of species ID workshops and follow-up fieldwork at several locations - stay tuned for dates and target areas if you want to get involved!
~Joe and Oliver participated in the Brockville Bioblitz on June 5-6, with Joe serving as leader for the reptile and amphibian taxon groups. The Mac Johnson Wildlife Area yielded some good reptile sightings, but no salamanders were found.
~check the photo contest page to see if you're one of our monthly winners (coming soon).
May 26, 2009:
~the downloadable Excel Form has been debugged. The "macro" security message is now gone. A new column "AB" has been added, and deals with data you may also be collecting for other volunteer monitoring programs.
~a counter has been added to the data page. It will be updated regularly to show the total number of records submitted.
April 30, 2009:
~the online reporting form has been activated.
~added links to species list for small range maps.
~added large range maps to downloads.
April 29, 2009:
~the downloadable Reporting Card has been slightly improved.
~Joe Crowley is now your primary contact for technical support and other atlas info.
April 20, 2009:
~the downloadable Excel Form was an incorrect version. The correct one is now posted.
~the FAQ and Contact Us pages have been revised.
~the online form is undergoing some final tweaking and should be available this week (April 20-26).
~the "Reporting Form" page and links have been renamed to "Submit Your Data".
~a new page/link called "Guidelines" has been added. The guidelines and policy statement are essential reading for all participants.
~a "Registration Form" will be added soon.
~the winning picture and the other 7 finalists from the 2009 photo contest are now posted.
January 18, 2010:
~the 2009 photo contest has now ended and the final results, based on 120 eligible photos, have been determined and posted. Our thanks to everyone who submitted images. Though you won't be in the running for a prize anymore, please continue to submit images along with your records whenever possible because a photo confirms a sighting and vastly improves the quality of atlas data. Resources permitting, we will run the contest again in 2010. Stay tuned!
December 6, 2009:
~the database functions of the online reporting and registation forms have been re-coded. Among other bug fixes and tweaks, photos of all sizes should now upload correctly and consistently.
October 22, 2009:
~awarded and added the first batch of monthly winners for the photo contest.
~added French versions of the "FAQ" page, "Submit Your Data" page, "Downloads" page, "Online Reporting Form", and downloadable "Reporting Card".
~added a NEW VERSION of the Excel form. This one automatically looks up Latin names, is bilingual and automatically creates translations for all standard fields. You may need to give Excel permission to run the included macros. Please always download and use the most recent version.
~rewrote the "Registration Form" so that it is bilingual.
~updated the "Contact Us" page, "FAQ" page, and "Species List" page.
August 27, 2009:
~added photos of all 35 species. Photos are accessible by clicking the camera icons on the species checklist page. The checklist page also received some minor layout enhancements.
August 12, 2009:
~correction: the registration form is now linked correctly.
~the Excel form has received a minor update.
~breaking news: French versions of the laminated identifier cards are now available.
August 10, 2009:
~the registration form is now online.
July 23, 2009:
~rewrote the html code for the online form. The page should now download significantly faster. The content has also been tweaked. Note that, to eliminate a parsing error in the atlas database, the use of commas has been disallowed. This was achieved by a small script that disables the comma key on your keyboard, but ONLY within the form.
~please keep the size of your photos fairly small (under 1 Mbyte) by cropping out non-essential stuff, reducing the DPI to 96, and resizing the photo. Some loggers have told us that they get an error when attempting to upload an occurrence record that includes a photo. This seems to happen only occasionally and has something to do with excessive load on the server. Do not dispair - your data still uploads successfully, so please don't re-submit anything. In the case of an unsuccessful photo upload, please email it/them to Oliver as an email attachment, along with a short explanatory note.
June 22, 2009:
~added some promotional tools to the downloads page
June 19, 2009:
~Ontario Nature has secured funding to take this atlas project province-wide. Oliver is, once again, your primary contact for eastern Ontario. In addition to offering more presentations, he will be conducting combinations of species ID workshops and follow-up fieldwork at several locations - stay tuned for dates and target areas if you want to get involved!
~Joe and Oliver participated in the Brockville Bioblitz on June 5-6, with Joe serving as leader for the reptile and amphibian taxon groups. The Mac Johnson Wildlife Area yielded some good reptile sightings, but no salamanders were found.
~check the photo contest page to see if you're one of our monthly winners (coming soon).
May 26, 2009:
~the downloadable Excel Form has been debugged. The "macro" security message is now gone. A new column "AB" has been added, and deals with data you may also be collecting for other volunteer monitoring programs.
~a counter has been added to the data page. It will be updated regularly to show the total number of records submitted.
April 30, 2009:
~the online reporting form has been activated.
~added links to species list for small range maps.
~added large range maps to downloads.
April 29, 2009:
~the downloadable Reporting Card has been slightly improved.
~Joe Crowley is now your primary contact for technical support and other atlas info.
April 20, 2009:
~the downloadable Excel Form was an incorrect version. The correct one is now posted.
~the FAQ and Contact Us pages have been revised.
~the online form is undergoing some final tweaking and should be available this week (April 20-26).
~the "Reporting Form" page and links have been renamed to "Submit Your Data".
~a new page/link called "Guidelines" has been added. The guidelines and policy statement are essential reading for all participants.
~a "Registration Form" will be added soon.
