EarthCape Documentação

Primeiros passos

O seu primeiro levantamento

Esta página percorre o ciclo completo, da instalação à exportação: abrir a aplicação, transferir a área onde vai trabalhar, escolher um protocolo de registo, introduzir observações no campo, rever o que recolheu e extrair os dados. Cada passo remete para uma página dedicada com todos os pormenores.

No account, no connection required. All data is stored in a single on-device database. Your records leave the device only when you export them or push them to a Drive folder yourself. The optional online features — weather, AI identification, GBIF, iNaturalist, place and taxon search, map tiles — send only what they need to work; see the privacy policy. The app works with the radio off once you have downloaded the map area you need.

Abrir a aplicação pela primeira vez

When you open EarthCape for the first time, no sign-up is required. The app creates a project for you automatically, named after your device, selects it, and assigns the Casual / incidental protocol. The project is empty — it contains no sample data, no demonstration observations, and no pre-loaded species lists. Use it as it is, or rename it before you begin.

The home screen carries the Record button, quick actions for a new observation or locality (camera, gallery or blank form), and the weather card. Everything else — the map, your data lists, protocols, projects and Admin — is reached from the Menu button at the bottom left.

  1. Abra a aplicação. O ecrã inicial carrega com o projeto criado automaticamente já selecionado.
  2. If you want to rename it, open Menu → Projects, tap the project and edit its name.
  3. Take note of the protocol shown — it is Casual / incidental by default. You can change it before you start recording; see Setting the protocol below.
EarthCape home screen with the Record button, observation and locality quick actions and the weather card
Home screenThe app opens here. A project is already created and selected; the database is empty and ready.

Transferir a área do mapa

O mapa base cobre todo o planeta através de mosaicos vetoriais servidos a partir da nossa própria infraestrutura — sem chave de API, sem limite de utilização. Antes de ir para o campo, transfira a área onde vai trabalhar para que o mapa, o relevo e o relevo 3D funcionem com o rádio desligado. Consulte Mapa e servidor de mosaicos e Mapas offline para todos os detalhes.

Transferir uma região

  1. Open the map (Menu → Map).
  2. Navegue até ao seu local de trabalho de campo e enquadre a área de que precisa na janela de visualização.
  3. Tap Tools in the toolbar at the bottom of the map screen, then tap Offline.
  4. The panel shows "Download current view". A region name is suggested automatically while you are online — for example, "Bostanlik district, Tashkent Region, Uzbekistan"; otherwise type one.
  5. Check the coordinates and size estimate. The estimate depends on the area and terrain — the district-sized example in the screenshot is about 11 MB at z6–14 — and includes the map and the 3D terrain model.
  6. Toque em «Transferir esta área» e aguarde que a transferência termine antes de ficar sem ligação.

Acrescentar a vista geral do mundo

The world overview (z0–5, approximately 80 MB) gives you a rendered basemap at all zoom levels, so the map is never blank when you zoom out beyond your downloaded region. It only needs downloading once.

  1. In the same Offline panel, scroll down to World map. The detail line reads "Detail: z0–5 · ~80 MB"; the slider lets you change the depth (z0–7).
  2. Toque em «Transferir mapa do mundo».
Painel de mapas offline a mostrar uma região nomeada pronta a transferir, com coordenadas e estimativa de tamanho
Region downloadThe area name is suggested from an online place lookup. The size estimate covers map tiles and terrain at z6–14.
World map download option showing z0–5 detail and approximately 80 MB
World overviewz0–5 at ~80 MB. Download once to keep the map readable at any zoom level.

Definir o protocolo e o formulário

A survey protocol defines the structure of a recording session: what a visit is, which fields appear on the observation form, and how the data is organised for export. Every observation in a project is recorded under the project's active protocol. Seven protocols ship with the app, including Casual / incidental, which is assigned automatically to new projects. You can change the protocol, clone a built-in one to edit it, or write a new one in the Protocols Studio — all on the device.

The Form builder lets you control the field layout for each entity type: show or hide fields, reorder them, group them under headings, and add custom fields. Custom fields defined before the season starts travel with the project, so the whole team's form looks the same from the first day.

  1. Open Menu → Protocols. The list shows all seven built-in protocols and any you have created.
  2. Tap a protocol to view it. To assign it, open Menu → Projects, tap your project and under Survey protocol tap Assign a protocol (or Change).
  3. To add a custom field, open the protocol in Protocols, switch to the Form builder tab, choose the Entity type (for example Observation) and tap Add custom field. Set the caption, key, data type and section, and whether the field is Required and Show in list.
  4. To share the configuration with colleagues, open the project under Menu → Projects and tap Share; the app writes a .ecsurvey setup file with the project, protocol, forms, custom fields, sites and vocabulary. Colleagues open the file on their device, or use Import under Menu → Projects. To move the records as well, export a Frictionless Data Package from Menu → Admin → File Import & Export.
Lista de protocolos a mostrar os sete protocolos de levantamento integrados
Protocol listSeven built-in protocols. Tap any to view it; clone a built-in protocol to make an editable copy.
Add custom field dialog with Caption, Key, Data type, Required and Show in list options
Custom fieldCaption, key, data type (string and others), section, required flag, and whether the field appears in the list view.

Registar no campo

Recording a session means starting a GPS track, which creates a visit for the session, and entering observations as you work through the site. The Recording observations page covers all of this in detail.

  1. Open Record from the home screen or the Record tile in the Menu.
  2. Check the GPS status fields before you start: Latitude, Longitude, Accuracy, V-Accuracy, Altitude, Speed, Bearing, Satellites and Timestamp are all shown. Wait until Accuracy reaches an acceptable value for your work — ±5 m or better is typical in open terrain.
  3. O ecrã mostra «Projeto onde registar» com o nome do projeto ativo. Confirme que está correto.
  4. Tap Start recording. A visit is created for the session automatically, and observations you add while recording are linked to it.
  5. Acrescente observações à medida que percorre o local. Cada observação abre o formulário do protocolo; preencha o táxone, os campos do protocolo e, se quiser, anexe uma foto.
  6. When the session is finished, tap Stop & save. The track and all observations are saved to the on-device database.
Ecrã de registo a mostrar os campos de estado do GPS e o botão Iniciar gravação
Ecrã de registoVerifique a precisão do GPS antes de começar. O projeto e todos os campos de estado ficam visíveis antes de o trajeto começar.
Seletor de visita com as visitas disponíveis e um botão Continuar sem visita
Visit promptShown when you create an observation outside a recording under a protocol that records visits: start a new visit recording, select an existing visit, or proceed without one.
Formulário de introdução de observações com os campos do protocolo
Formulário de observaçãoOs campos apresentados dependem do protocolo ativo. Os campos personalizados aparecem junto aos integrados.

Verificar o que recolheu

The data lists give you access to every record in the project as a filterable list. After a day in the field, use them to check completeness, find entry errors and open records for correction.

  1. Open Menu → Observations (or Visits, Localities, Taxa, or Files depending on what you want to review).
  2. The list opens with the default column set. Tap the columns icon (Choose columns) to add, remove or reorder columns — for example, add Accuracy or Altitude to check GPS quality.
  3. Type in the Filter… box to narrow the list; it matches text in any shown column. In the wide (tablet) grid each column has its own filter cell, and tapping a column header sorts by it.
  4. Toque em qualquer linha para abrir o registo completo e editá-lo.
Observation list with chosen columns and the Filter box
Observation listChoose which columns to show, type in the Filter box to narrow the list, and tap a row to open the full record.

Obter os dados

EarthCape exports to twelve formats. The right choice depends on your destination: Darwin Core Archive for a biodiversity repository, GeoPackage for a GIS, Excel for spreadsheet work. If several people are collecting data on the same survey, Google Drive lets you push each person's contribution to a shared folder and merge them — without an EarthCape account or a server (a Google account is needed for Drive). See Export formats and Google Drive collaboration for the full procedure.

  1. Open Menu → Admin → File Import & Export.
  2. Escolha o formato correspondente ao seu destino. Os doze formatos estão listados no ecrã de exportação.
  3. Tap the format to generate the file. The filename is set automatically from the project name, its id and a timestamp.
  4. Partilhe o ficheiro através do menu de partilha do Android (Quick Share, Drive, Mensagens, Bluetooth, Gmail ou qualquer outro destino instalado), ou envie-o diretamente para um destino na nuvem já configurado.
  5. Alternatively, open Menu → Admin → Integrations and tap Export to Google Drive to push the current project — setup, your contributions, photos and an analysis-ready merge — to a shared Drive folder.
File Import & Export screen listing the twelve available formats
Ecrã de exportaçãoDoze formatos. O ficheiro é gerado no dispositivo e partilhado através do menu de partilha do sistema ou de um destino configurado.
Google Drive card under Integrations with Export to Google Drive, Sign in to Google Drive and Download from Drive + merge buttons
Google DriveEnvie o projeto para uma pasta partilhada, ou transfira e combine o contributo de um colega. Não é necessária conta EarthCape.

Cada tema abordado neste percurso tem uma página de referência dedicada com todo o detalhe.

Se quiser…Ir para
Perceber como funciona o mapa base e quanto custaMapa e servidor de mosaicos
Gerir áreas offline, verificar tamanhos, eliminar transferências antigasMapas offline
Utilizar a medição no mapa, o ajuste a trilhos e a pesquisaFerramentas de mapa
Conhecer todo o fluxo de registo, as visitas e as localidadesRegistar observações
Configurar a disposição do formulário e acrescentar campos personalizadosFormulários e campos personalizados
Ler ou escrever protocolos de levantamentoProtocolos de levantamento
Filtrar, ordenar e rever os dados no dispositivoConsultar os seus dados
Escolher o formato de exportação certo para o seu destinoFormatos de exportação
Partilhar dados com colegas através do Google DriveColaboração através do Google Drive