iSpot provides online keys to help identify wildlife using your computer or mobile device by suggesting species that match the characters you select from specimens in your area. The keys allow you to pick characters in any order, see descriptions of likely species, change your selection, and view diagnostic differences between species while setting your location.
2. iSpot keys Use your computer or mobile to help you identify wildlife. iSpot keys are new and easy to use. They suggest the species in your area that best match what you have found.
4. How to use a key Pick characters in any order Select to describe your specimen Most likely species ticked Change your mind Characters used so far Click any species to see a full description
These are current keys – classified according to level of expertise required Try the minibeast key as a simple example
Pick characters in any order – ignore any that are difficult Select closest match to your specimen Species listed in order of most likely – when id looks close, ticks will appear Repeat for more characters until you are satisfied Click on any species for a full description to check likely ids Characters used so far Change your mind – select character used and either change or delete
Set your location may help because gives greater weight to species found in local area. Only available for keys that go to species level (so not minibeasts). Other keys give more weight to common species regardless of location. May not be useful if distribution data is not good.
Check a description at any time – photos and text Description from key shows agreements in bold, disagreements in italic Distribution maps available from NBN
Choose two species to compare – look for differences between them to help discriminate Again, current characters which agree with species are bold, disagreements are italic
If you have a hunch you know what the species is, choose ‘diagnostic characters’ tab This shows most useful characters to check for that species If you click the button indicated, then this order of characters will be used on main identification tab
Mobile versions can be used on any phone with web browser Supports both larger screen with touch interface (eg iPhone) – quite easy to use And small screen and cursors (ie any phone with web access) – quite fiddly! Any comments welcomed
Possible to develop new keys – but currently only by arrangement! Hope to make this fully public in future but depends on obtaining additional funding
Preparing a key means filling in an Excel spreadsheet – this is the very simplest. Just upload the spreadsheet and the working key is generated automatically. It gets more complicated as you add more features!
