Transitioning to NAHPU
NAHPU is a digital field catalog built for natural history collections. It replaces unformatted and pre-formatted paper field catalogs and no-code custom form apps such as Claris FileMaker. This page compares them and outlines how to move across.
NAHPU compared with a paper field catalog
Section titled “NAHPU compared with a paper field catalog”| Paper field catalog | NAHPU | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Ongoing paper, ink, binders, storage | Free; runs on a phone you already own. A dedicated tablet is about $200–$500 and lasts around five years. Catalogs still print when a hard copy is required. |
| Access | Carry the book home, scan pages, or retype into a spreadsheet | Open on any device and hand collaborators an exact copy. Install NAHPU on your phone and import the data; the catalog is with you all the time. |
| Data quality | Secondary entry errors when digitizing | Controlled lists and required-field checks before you leave the field |
| Associations | The same site rewritten on every page | Enter a site once and link it to many records, plus GPS, images, videos, and audio |
| Backup | Photograph or retype each page | Cloud, flash drive, or another device. Many drives are waterproof and shockproof |
| Findability | Read through by hand; no filtering | Search and filter, following Darwin Core and the FAIR principles |
| Statistics | Counted by hand | A growing list of summary statistics, including species, family, and preservation summaries per project and site, exportable to a spreadsheet. Advanced machine learning methods are being developed for on-device morphological analyses. |
NAHPU compared with a custom-built form app
Section titled “NAHPU compared with a custom-built form app”Moving from a form app is the easier transition: your data entry, backup, and export habits carry over largely unchanged.
| Custom-built form app | NAHPU | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Development and maintenance, often a paid subscription — see the FileMaker pricing page | Free |
| Standards | Varies by build | Darwin Core and FAIR compliance as a goal of the project |
| Openness | May be proprietary, with proprietary formats | Open source, open libraries, CSV and JSON export, and a plain SQLite database you can open yourself |
| Devices | Device support depends on the build | Phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, with Flutter and Material Design accessibility |
| Statistics | Summary reports must be designed and maintained as part of the build | Built in: species, family, and preservation summaries per project and site, exportable to a spreadsheet |
Plan the transition
Section titled “Plan the transition”Pick an approach:
- Soft. Use NAHPU alongside your paper field catalog.
- Hard. Use NAHPU as the only catalog, with paper carried as a backup.
Then settle three practical questions:
| Question | What to consider |
|---|---|
| Which device? | Phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops all work. Start with your phone; a tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard is the better experience if the budget allows. See Device Requirements. |
| What are the field conditions? | NAHPU is designed for remote sites with no internet. Weigh durability and power: recent phones are often water and dust resistant, tablets and laptops usually need a sturdy case, and a 20,000–25,000 mAh power bank covers about a week on a phone or tablet. |
| How will you back up? | A flash drive, USB-C or with an adapter, is the baseline. Cross-backup to a teammate’s device adds redundancy. Cloud services such as Google Drive or Dropbox work where the connection does, but need their own app and account on the device. |