[Solved] Missing user-defined fields after 6.1 upgrade

Hi David,

Thanks for posting and thanks for the screenshots also. Always helpful.

This was a change made in a later build of v6.0, but you are just now encountering it with your first import.

I automated detection of and creation of all the BD Mobile extra fields that are available. You had probably already manually created lat/lng fields. You can see the complete list (just now auto-created for you by this new feature) here.

And the new check about the observer dropdown being set is also a new feature. Once set, it will remember on future imports.

Let me know if anything else comes up.

Here is the release note about this change when it occurred.

OK. But on Latitude/longitude. I gather that is the value for the FIRST sighting of a species for a date/location. The Lat/Long of subsequent sightings for a date/location get lost because there is only one line item for a given species. That has troubled me a little. But it has to be buried in BD somewhere. Multiple sightings also do not seem to appear on an HTML report.

Hi David,

Good question. This is configured via the Finish Outing and Submit window on the mobile app. Click on the wrench icon in the bottom right of this window.

Each tap on a checklist row in BD Mobile creates a record with timestamp and gps coordinates. Each and every tap. 

It is on Submit and Export that these taps/clicks on each row are consolidated into "1 Sighting of 2 birds or 2 Sightings of 1 bird".

eBird handles this differently because of their needs for collecting data. But, in BD Mobile, you have control over how this is done. By checking the checkbox for "Treat all..." in the window above, you get eBird-like functionality.

But, I want to know that I saw 4 Blue Jays here in my back yard at the same place/time; and I want to treat that as 1 sighting of 4 birds; instead of 4 sightings of 1 bird.

Let me know if this causes more questions.

I never fully understood what 1 Sighting of 2 birds or 2 Sightings of 1 bird" meant. I think I know what you mean now.

I also don't understand what "Checklist row-taps for each row" means. Row of what? I don't know how eBird does it under the hood.

With experience as a technical writer, I know that when someone doesn't understand something I wrote, and then I explain it to them, whatever I just said to them, that is what I should write.

Further, if you add a row for every tap, then if you enter a total number on the detail screen, say, 120, and then later delete that and change it to 180. Then maybe BD does 180-120 = 60, and only add 60 rows. Or maybe I want to delete the first 120 rows and add 180 new ones. BD would not know that.

So very hairy.

Hi David,

Posted by: @magmatic

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I never fully understood what 1 Sighting of 2 birds or 2 Sightings of 1 bird" meant. I think I know what you mean now.

The concept of a Sighting in BD has been around since the beginning. A Sighting consists of (among other things such as date, location and observer) a species and a count. E.g. I went to the Lake and I saw 100 Mallards. That is one sighting of 100 Mallards. Then, I went to another Lake and saw 12 Mallards. That is another sighting of 12 Mallards. You have two sightings of Mallards; a total of 112 individuals. eBird just counts individuals. It doesn't matter if you saw 5 here; 6 more 1 hour later a mile away, and then 2 more an hour later 3 miles away. You saw 13 birds. Not concept of a Sighting.

With BD Mobile, we tap/click on a row in the Checklist. Each row consists of a specific taxon; e.g. Blue Jay species; subspecies, spuh, etc. BD Mobile records each and every tap/click you make. Recording gps coords and a timestamp with each tap. When you go to Export/Submit your outing in BD Mobile, you configure how it delineates sightings for the export and eventual import into BD Desktop. I usually use the settings of 30 meters and 60 seconds. Compare the next record of a tap in the database to the current one. If it is more than 30 meters or 60 seconds from the current record, then it is a new sighting with count set to 1. If it is less than both, then just increment the count of the current Sighting being exported. You have complete control over how this is done. 

• The lat/lng and timestamp used for the sighting is that from the first record (tap/click) in the DB, subsequent records within the time/distance just increment the count.
• You can make every tap/click its own sighting by checking the checkbox on the configure page.
• Until you remove the saved Checklist/Outing from your BD Mobile database, those details stay in there, so you can export the same outing two or more times with different settings for distance/time and get potentially different results for the number and counts of sightings on import into BD Desktop.

Posted by: @magmatic

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I also don't understand what "Checklist row-taps for each row" means. Row of what? I don't know how eBird does it under the hood.

As stated above. It is when you tap on a row in the scrollable checklist on your outing. It increments the number seen by 1 with each tap/click. If you tap on the number itself, it decrements the count.

eBird just increments the count with each tap on the count column only.

Posted by: @magmatic

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Further, if you add a row for every tap, then if you enter a total number on the detail screen, say, 120, and then later delete that and change it to 180. Then maybe BD does 180-120 = 60, and only add 60 rows. Or maybe I want to delete the first 120 rows and add 180 new ones. BD would not know that.

Example:

1. Tap on the row for Blue Jay once. Count goes to 1. DB record created with time and gps.
2. Tap on the row for Blue Jay again. Count goes to 2. Another DB record is created with time and gps for this tap.
3. Go to the Detail Screen and set the number to 120 and Click DONE. 118 new DB records get added with the current timestamp and gps. We now have 120 DB records.
4. Go to the Detail Screen and set the number to 180 and click DONE. 60 new DB records get added. Total of 180 records for Blue Jay in the DB.
5. Go to the Detail Screen and set the number to 60. The last 120 records get removed from the database. Gone. There are now 60 records in the DB for Blue Jay. 

Let me know if this generates more questions. 

"Row-tap" means a single tap on a row. I see.

It would be easier for me to understand if it said, "Treat all taps on a checklist row as the same sighting." That assumes the user understands that a "sighting" is a single line item in Desktop.