Images & Other Media
This page describes the types of media that are supported by Symbiota portals.
As of Symbiota version 3.2, Symbiota portals support audio files! For this reason, most tools are now labeled media or multimedia tools, rather than "image tools," as in previous versions of Symbiota. Media refers to any audiovisual media such as images or audio files; however, video files are not currently supported.
Media resources may be associated with records in Symbiota portals by storing links to those resources in the database tables. If a Symbiota portal is configured to accept media resources (i.e., media asset storage at the institution that hosts the portal is allowed), those media links may be generated by the portal. Storage of a large number of media resources on servers associated with a Symbiota portal (e.g., at Arizona State University) may require an media-hosting agreement and/or incur media-hosting costs. Check with the portal administrator for more information about your portal's image hosting allowances. Otherwise, tools are available to link external URLs to occurrences by matching on catalog numbers.
If your portal is hosted by the Symbiota Support Hub, you may be eligible for a certain level of media hosting free of charge. Contact help@symbiota.org for more information.
There are three categories of media that can be linked to a Symbiota portal:
Occurrence (Specimen) Media
Media (e.g., images) relating to physical specimens should be linked to their respective specimen records. Specimen-linked media are available both from the Occurrence Details page and the Taxon Profile page for the taxon associated with the most recent determination. If the specimen identification is annotated, the taxonomic identification of the media resource will be automatically re-mapped to that taxon. Specimen-linked media can be added through the Occurrence Editor or in batch via multiple processes.
See Uploading Images & Other Media for more details.
Field Media without Location
Media without specific locality information (e.g. lat/long coordinates) are linked only to the scientific name of the organism. These media resources can be viewed through Taxon Profile Pages, which have general information such as descriptions, distribution maps, synonyms, and common names. Field media are uploaded and managed through the Taxon Profile pages by users with Taxon Profile editing permissions. Field media with specific locality details (e.g. coordinates) can be loaded as Media Vouchers (see "Field Media with Location" tab). See Uploading Images & Other Media for more details.
Field Media with Location
Field media with specific locality information can adequately serve as vouchers for field observations of many birds, mammals, and easy-to-identify plants. In some instances, they may actually be preferable, for instance if the organism is rare or the observer does not have the appropriate collecting permit. These media resources are similar to georeferenced specimen records in that they are searchable occurrence records that place a dot on the species distribution maps. There are, however, some taxonomic groups that typically require microscopic or chemical analysis for accurate identification (e.g. lichens, bryophytes, fungi). For such organisms, field images will have limited value. For this reason, some data portals might not allow the submission of observations without a physical specimen.
Image Vouchers are displayed on both the Occurrence Details and the Taxon Profile pages. Image-supported observations can be uploaded using the Observation Submission page. Up to three images can be submitted for a single observation. Data fields required for an image to qualify as a voucher include: observer name, observation date, country, state, locality description, latitude, longitude, and at least one image. Contact your data portal administrator for information on whether observations are allowed and the necessary protocols for submitting an observation. Some portals require the review of a tutorial before one is authorized to submit an observation.
See Uploading Images & Other Media for more details.