Historical data into SMART

SMART Community Forum
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Hi all! I am new to SMART and to this forum but very happy to discover such a powerful conservation data management tool!
I have watched and browsed lots of available materials but could not find an answer to a question how to download historical data (biodiversity surveys, camera traps data etc) into SMART. What would be a process for it? If it is decribed in a webinar or a pdf manual please share a link or advice from your own experience. Thanks!

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Hello Lula,
Welcome to SMART and the Community Forum! There is a tool available that supports importing historical into SMART - it is documented here. As you can see, it is fairly complex, and in practice it typically turns out better to engage Refractions (the developers behind SMART) for a small fee to import the data. Depending on the volume and complexity of the data, it could also be easiest to manually enter the data (and good practice for using SMART!).

Regarding the camera trap data, if you are using the Field Sensors plugin, there is a standard process for importing and reviewing your camera trap images, as outlined in the SMART Field Sensors Handbook - 2020_04_21_SMART_Field_Sensors_Guide_v1.8.pdf - Google Drive
Note that importing a lot of camera trap images can significantly increase the size of your CA and storage requirements.

Please let me know if you have further questions.

Regards,
Matt

2 Likes
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Thanks, Matt! Entering data manually via the mobile app is less desirable due to the volume of data so I would rather explore options of importing using the tool or the external team. Would you be able to advice where to download the CSV2SMART from and what is the best way to contact Refractions? I also wonder how to reproduce/transfer the structure of the SMART database into Excel/Access to prepare the data in the correct format?

It does look easier with the camera traps data. Is it ok not to upload the images but only import processed species data?

Thanks for your help!

4

Hello Lula,
I’ll note that you can also enter data directly in the SMART desktop, not just through the mobile app, though it could still be a challenging undertaking. You can download the software here, and I will connect you with Refractions, who can better answer your questions about the formatting.

If you’re not loading the camera trap photos, you would import the observation of species in the same way you would for any other observations in your SMART data model.

I’ll get you connected with the developers over email, and we can take it from there.

Best,
Matt

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thanks, Matt, it is helpful for now. I will come back to this topic later on when we come to this stage during SMART implementation.

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Hello,
where I can find the csv2smart zip file?
Regards. Pablo :slight_smile:

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Hi Pablo,

I believe this is the file referenced in the guide:

Regards,

Alex

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Hello @matt.hron and @Alex_Wyatt ,

I was just reading this earlier conversation about loading external data into SMART. Has there been something else developed in the meantime that is easier than this approach?

If yes, could you please share this with me?
If no, does this method mentioned in 2022 also work for independent incidents?

Kind regards,
Elke

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Hi Elke,
I’m not aware of any recent updates to this tool, and it looks like it imports all of the waypoints as part of a patrol or mission, so it wouldn’t support independent incidents.

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Ah, so it won’t be possible to use this method for independent incidents at all?
Is there another way to enter historical data in SMART, without having to enter everythign one by one in Mobile?

Kind regards,
Elke

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Historical data can also be entered directly in SMART desktop, but maybe others have found creative ways to import this kind of historical data.

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Yes one by one indeed.
I am looking for a way to do a bulk import.

@Alex_Wyatt is this something on the list for developments?

Kind regards,
Elke