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NAHPU Documentation

NAHPU Day 1

NAHPU is a project-based cataloging app. The data is managed and organized based on a project. Each project can have multiple people, sites, narratives, collecting events, and specimen records. The app is designed to record natural history specimens both in the lab and in the fields and is optimized for mobile and computer screens. If your team work on multiple supported taxa, such as, bird and mammals, you can have both in the same project.

Getting Started

Section titled “Getting Started”

  1. Create a new project

    Use the + button in the bottom right corner of the home screen. The project name must be 3 to 25 characters long.

    You can add a project description. This is optional, but it is useful for remembering the project's purpose and scope.

    Then, select the main catalog format. The app currently supports mammal and bird catalog formats. Herpetofauna, fish and fossil support is currently under development.

    The app will take you the dashboard.

    After creating a project, the app automatically generates a project UUID. This unique identifier is used throughout the database to distinguish records from different projects. We used UUID version 4. It is almost impossible for two UUIDs to collide.

  2. Getting to know the dashboard

    The dashboard is the main project interface. It divides into four main panels.

    • The top left panel is the project info. It includes a QR code that other users can scan when creating a new project.
    • The top right panel is the personnel data. This panel allow you to add and manage personnel info for the project. The personnel will be shown as a list in this panel once created.
    • The bottom left panel is the taxon registry. This panel allow you to add and manage taxon info for the project.
    • The bottom right panel is the record statistic. This panel shows the number of records added to the project. You can enter the full screen window to see more statistics.

  3. Add a new personnel

    You need at least one person to take on the role of specimen care cataloger. You can add more people with different roles.

    • Cataloger is responsible for cataloging the specimen. In some institutions, this could be called a collector. In the app, we call a collector, anyone who collects the specimen, whether they are involved in cataloging the app or not. Their initial and field number will be used to generate the Field ID on the specimen catalog page. Their name will also appear whenever the field asks for a personnel name, such as collecting personnel and preparator. The app does not allow changing the cataloger role after it is created.

    • Preparator only is a person who helps prepare the specimen but is not involved in managing the data. Their names will not appear in the specimen page cataloger field but somewhere else, such as in the Preparator and Collecting personnel fields on the specimen page.

    • None role is reserved for other personnel not directly involved in the specimen care. NAHPU goals is to ensure that everyone involved in the field is recorded in the field data. You can assign this role to your driver, local guides, cooks, etc. Their names will only appear in the Collecting personnel field. If they are involved in getting a specimen, you can associate them with it.

  4. Add a new taxon

    You can add a taxon manually using the add taxon button or import from a file. Preferred formats are .xlsx, .csv, and .tsv. NAHPU will make a best-effort attempt to parse other file types.

    • For recognized delimited files, the app selects delimiters by extension (.csv = comma, .tsv = tab).
    • For unrecognized extensions, auto detect tries Excel, comma, tab, and semicolon first. If that fails, use advanced parser override and enter a custom raw delimiter.
    • Best support is for .xlsx; older/other Excel formats may fail.

    Your import file requires all of these columns: class, order, family, genus, epithet. You can also include scientific name, common name, and notes. The app will automatically detect supported header aliases (for example taxonClass, taxonOrder, taxonFamily, specificEpithet). You can manually select the column type using the dropdown menu if the app does not automatically assign the right column for each data. Other columns will be ignored.

    Example taxon import table:

    | class    | order    | family  | genus   | epithet   | scientific name   | common name        | notes |
    | -------- | -------- | ------- | ------- | --------- | ----------------- | ------------------ | ----- |
    | Mammalia | Rodentia | Muridae | Bunomys | coelestis | Bunomys coelestis | Heavenly hill rat  |       |
    | Mammalia | Rodentia | Muridae | Bunomys | penitus   | Bunomys penitus   | Inland hill rat    |       |

  5. Create a site

    In some paper based catalog, this term will be labeled as Locality. Navigate to the site page using the bottom navigation bar. To create a new site, use the + button in the top right corner of the site. Fill at least the Site ID. The app limits the site ID to 20 characters and enforces upper case format. You will refer to this ID throughout the record field whenever it asks for a site.

  6. Add narrative

    This is your field journal. You can use it to record observations, thoughts, and other information related to your fieldwork. In the field, it is a good practice to write narrative notes every day. Navigate to the narrative page using the bottom navigation bar. To create a narrative, use the + button in the top right corner of the narrative. Select the date and site ID. Then, write the narrative.

  7. Add collecting events

    A collecting event captures the details of a single collection effort, including personnel, weather, and astronomy data for a specific site and time period. Specimen records link to a collecting event rather than directly to a site. If you are coming from paper catalogs, this may be a new concept: think of a collecting event as the "session" during which specimens were collected, separate from the site where it happened.

    To create a collecting event, use the + button in the top right corner of the collecting event. Select site ID, start date, start time, end date, and end time. Then, fill out the rest of the form.

    The app combines site ID and start date to create a unique ID for each collecting event. For example, GP-L1-March, 23 2023. You will use this ID to refer to the collecting event in the specimen record. In the rare case where you run multiple collecting events at the same site on the same day, add a suffix to distinguish them, e.g., Line1-Mar 26, 2023-1, Line1-Mar 26, 2023-2, or Line1-Mar 26, 2023-day and Line1-Mar 26, 2023-night.

  8. Add specimen records

    To create a specimen record, use the + button in the top right corner of the specimen record. The specimen record icon in the navigation bar tells you about the current active format. It will generate the matching format for the currently active catalog. The only difference between different catalog formats is the measurement fields. After creating a new specimen record, fill in the relevant information. Repeat the process for the next specimens.

  9. Exporting records

    To export records, go to the dashboard's menu (indicated by the hamburger icon/three horizontal lines in the top left corner). We have multiple export options:

    • Create a report. Generate species list, media, and site coordinates in delimited format (.csv or .tsv).

    • Bundle projects. Generate available reports, such as species count, narratives, sites, collecting events, and specimen records. They are all in a comma-delimited (.csv) format. The app will generate a zip file that contains all the files and media.

    • Export records. You can choose which records to export. It supports exporting in delimited format (.csv or .tsv).

  10. Backing up database

    To back up the database, go to the menu in the dashboard and select backup database. By default, the database will be exported as a sqlite3 file. Use the toggle button include project data to add the project data to the backup. The app will generate a zip file that contains the database and media.