Type of site Database Alexa rank 713,208 (April 2016) | Website observado.org Commercial No | |
Owner Stichting Natuurinformatie Registration Only for data entry; free | ||
Observado.org is a non-profit website which collects sightings in nature. Users can submit sightings regarding any area of fauna and flora, whereby administrators scrutinize these sightings. A forum is present where questions by observers can be posed and commented on by any user.
Observado.org was founded in 2005 as a sister site of Waarneming.nl. The founder was Stichting Natuurinformatie (Foundation nature data) Since its start over 8 million nature sightings have been collected featuring almost 300.000 pictures by alsmost 3.000 users and this number grows exponentially.
The goal of observado.org is to make available sightings of observers all around the world and help with knowledge on biodiversity. Not only citizen scientist, but also professional researchers share their data on this website. The website also exchanges data with international researchers. For example, sightings have been used by researchers of amongst others the Dutch Butterfly Association (Vlinderstichting) for surveys on dragonflies and butterflies for Europe and the mediterranean. Observers, e.g. birders, collect their own sightings and pictures made during field trips and holidays. Meanwhile, they feed the data that enable them to share their sightings, pictures with other users and ngo's. It is possible to submit sightings from just about any bird, mammal, insect or plant. The sightings and statistics are freely accessible for all users of the website. In order to avoid poaching some sightings have been made invisible for other users.
Observado.org provides an overview of all the biodiversity in the world. Screens like these will provide an insight into this diverse world of wildlife.
Observado.org is available in many languages among which English, German, Danish, Swedish, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Tsjech, Polish, Ukrainian, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Greek, Thai and West-Frisian. For each country or continent a separate site has been made on which sightings, pictures and statistics.
Observado.org is maintained by volunteers. They add new functions and species and above all enforce quality control with respect to sightings. Missing species or bugs can be reported on the forum.
Observado.org on mobile devices
Observado.org has got special software modules for mobile devices: WnPda, WnSmart (both for Windows Mobile) and ObsMapp (Android). These programs enable submitting sighting in the field on a PDA. Sightings can be submitted on-line directly or at the end of a trip to Observado.org. When submitting GPS position and time are registered as well the name of the species, the number and all sorts of features of the sighting. For a correct time the timezone of the device should be correctly filled in.
For smartphones the website WebObs is available. Webobs also enables submitting sightings in the field. WebObs requires one of the following systems: