Frequently Asked Questions
When i set up up an account, what sort of information is available?
Location information for many springs is already widely available. They are marked on maps, published in reports, or included in various agency databases that are already available to the public. These may include springs on private land, Tribal land, or in National Parks. When a user signs up for an account and searches for springs, this location information is available, although they can not edit the information, nor can they access survey data. However, springs that have not been published will not be visible.
What browsers are supported?
We have tested the application more completely with Firefox and Chrome, resolving any issues that we encountered. Should you encounter any problems, you may want to try a different browser to see if they are resolved. And please contact us with issues, providing as much detail as possible, along with the browser version.
Why can't I find a spring that I am looking for?
Watch this instructional video for help with searching for springs. There are many ways to search for a spring, and usually searching by name is not the best way. Many sites are named the same (eg. Aspen, Warm, Cold, Big, Little, Coyote, etc.) If you are regularly working on a particular site and make a note of the Site ID, you can click on Site/Survey Management, enter the site ID, and be assured that you are accessing the correct one. On the search page, you can enter coordinates (Latitude and Longitude decimal degrees), enter a search radius, and click Search. You can also narrow down your search by entering criteria. Remember that if a site is not already publicly available, you must have permission to access a site.
I've found a list of sites using the Search form; how can I access the information?
From the search results page, if you have permission to access the information, a query symbol appears at the top right. Click this to download information into a *.csv file. You can also click on the Maps tab, and select Google Map to display a map of the sites, or Google Earth to download to a KML file. To access the record for an individual site, if you have permission to do so, click on the pencil symbol to the right of the entry. This will open the site form.
I would like to be able to query by ranger district on a particular forest.
For many forests that we have worked with, we identified individual ranger districts, and updated the Land Unit Detail field to allow this. For most forests, all springs are entered under the Proclaimed National Forest. Please contact us if you would like us to make this change for your forest. It would be helpful if you provided a shapefile with the District boundaries.
Can I download data to use in a GIS?
There are many ways to do this, if you have appropriate permissions to access the data. From the Search page, select the search criteria, click the Maps tab, and download a KML file. From the criteria page you can also click the query symbol at the top right to download a *.csv file. Import this into ArcMap, and View XY data, identifying the appropriate coordinate fields. If you are working on a project, open the project and click the Reports tab. Many of the reports contain GPS coordinates. SSI will also provide a geodatabase containing spring information for which the land manager or researcher has permissions. This geodatabase can be used with ArcMap and is available upon request.
can I upload data?
Although we do not yet have a way for users to upload data directly, we can provide templates. These will save significant time, particularly if data are already electronic. If you have a geodatabase or shapefile of springs on your landscape or study area, it is likely that they are already included in Springs Online. If you send us the geodatabase, we can identify the springs already in the database and add those that are new. We can then send you an exported geodatabase that includes all of the data. If you have water quality data, you can enter or paste your data into this template, and send it to SSI for upload.
how can a land manager control who can access springs data?
Land units such as Tribal reservations, National Park Units, or U.S. Forests can identify one or more staff to act as administrative users. These users will have the ability to apply permissions for other users as Read Only, Editor, or Administrator. They can also designate users to have access to locations survey data that are sensitive. These administrative users may also remove permissions when appropriate. Contact the database administrator if you wish to be designated as an administrator for a land unit.
how do I access, add, or edit springs data?
Answers to many questions can be found in the user manual. Please review this first, and/or watch the online video. If you have further questions or suggestions, we hope that you will contact the database administrator.