Background

The Norwegian Polar Institute Expedition Database is a tool for keeping long term track of NPI’s expeditions. The database is a reporting tool, not a planning tool, i.e. data is to be entered into the database after the expedition has taken place. The database will be used for presenting NPI expeditions to the outside world, and for reporting to our owners, Office of the Auditor General in Norway (Riksrevisjonen) and others asking about our activities. We also deliver all cruise data to IMR/SeaDataNet as a part of a larger, international cooperation.

We are working on setting up a nice mapping tool that shows all our expeditions, with track, summary, expedition leader and an image, something similar as: Polarforsningsportalen

Please note

The language in the database is English!

The field- or cruise leader is responsible for entering and completing information about the expedition into the database. The information should be entered into the database soon after the expedition has ended.

All information in the database will be available to the outside world, except personal information, such as individual person names and time periods.

In addition to the Expedition Database, NPI will have a separate database for the two research stations: the Sverdrup Research Station in Ny-Ålesund and Troll Research Station in Dronning Maud Land. So, do not include expeditions where you stay at Troll or Sverdrup Station in the Expedition Database. If you have a combined stay, f.ex. in Ny-Ålesund and out in the field, you have to register the field-days in the database.

For projects registered in RiS, you can harvest the basic information for your project and the most previous fieldwork period from RiS. Please check the harvetsed information to see if it is correct and complete. Please modify the abstract and other field as necessary, in particular pay attention to the persons affiliation and time period.

Login

To enter a new entry in the database or to edit a draft entry, start by logging in to Norwegian Polar Institute Expedition Database. Use the "user menu" button located in the upper right corner (se picture below).

https://github.com/npolar/npdc-expedition/blob/master/docs/img/800px-Expedition_login_small.png

If you do not have a data.npolar.no account, choose the "user menu" icon, write your e-mail address and choose the "email code"-button. You should then receive a one-time password and a link to update your password by email. If you know your login name, but have forgotten your password, use the same "email code" button.

If you do not see any green buttons to the right when you logg in, you are either not logged in or something is wrong. By hovering over the "user menu" button, you should see your login name as a check. If you only see "User menu", try to log in again. If you still do not succeed, contact us.

Get started

Go to the homepage, Norwegian Polar Institute Expedition Database. To enter a new entry, choose "New", the green "+"-icon button in the top right corner (see screenshot below).

https://github.com/npolar/npdc-expedition/blob/master/docs/img/800px-Expedition_new_small.png

To edit an existing (not published) record, select the entry and open the listing for this entry. Choose "Edit”, the green button in the right corner with a pencil-icon. When you are on the edit page, you can save your data by using the green "Save" button to the right with a disk symbol.

https://github.com/npolar/npdc-expedition/blob/master/docs/img/800px-Save_add_expend_small.png

You can add a new entry by clicking on the blue "+"-symbol or expand an already created entry by clicking on the "v" symbol. Similarly, you can delete an entry or move it down in the list by using the "three lines"-symbol (see picture above).

You can switch between tabs as you wish without saving, but you should save from time to time to avoid loosing data. After you have saved the entered information, the first tab page will appear again.

When you are done entering the information, go to the last tab, "Edits", and change "draft (not visible to Internet users)" to "no" and save. Then the entry is published and the data is visible in the database.

Tabs

Expedition

The first tab contains overview information.

**RiS project number: Here you can enter your RiS number to harvest information from the Research in Svalbard dataportal. The harvested information include (as of now): Title, summary, dates (same as the dates from the last fieldwork period defined in RiS), all persons (but not affiliation and fieldwork period for each), and location (for the last field work period). The type of expedition is set to fieldwork, and activity type is set to research. Please double check that the information harvested is correct and complete, and update as needed.

Expedition name: Name of the expedition. Please pay extra attention when making the title. Make a title that is understandable to everybody, and avoid abbreviations. For annual activities, it is a good idea to include the year in the title, e.g. Fram Stait Annual Cruise 2017"

Type of expedition: Either cruise or field work

Activity type: Classify the activity type; research, mapping, logistics, outreach/VIP, other

Summary: Write a short summary of the activity. This should describe your activity in few words to the outside world. Do not write what you plan to do, but what you did! For annual activities it is good to first describe the annual monitoring (reuse text from last year), and then a few sentences about what is new this year.

Departure date: Expedition start date.

Return date: Expedition end date.

Departure placename: Name of place where the expedition starts.

Return placename: Name of place where the expedition ends.

If cruise, include the ship name

People

Register all personnel taking part in the expedition (NPI and non-NPI personnel) . It is important to list all as we will create reports with annual field days etc. based on these numbers. If dates for personnel are not included, expedition start and end dates will be used automatically.

First name/Last name: Register the name of the person.

Organisation: List the person's organization. Organizations have autocomplete, so be careful when typing to choose the correct organization if it is available. Avoid abbreviations.

Country: List the person's country.

Roles: Choose all the roles that apply for the person. Make sure to assign the role expedition/cruise leader to one person, as this will be the contact person for the expedition.

Expedition dates: Register the arrival and departure date for each person. If left open, this will automatically be set to the expedition start and end date. If the person leaves f.ex. on a field trip and returns later, it should be registered twice - first arrival and departure date and last arrival and departure date.

Locations

Select the point locations where the work has been done. For cruises or transects on land, we can include the GPS track. Send the tracks to the Environmental Data Section (Siri) by email. Always include at least one point. Be aware a placename will not create a point on the map.

https://github.com/npolar/npdc-expedition/blob/master/docs/img/Expedition_map_small.png

Latitude: Place a marker on the map. Latitude will be added automatically.

Longitude: Place a marker on the map. Longitude will be added automatically.

Placename: Add a placename. Note - a bounding box around f.ex. Ny-Ålesund, will not automatically tick Ny-Ålesund as location, so please add it as a placename in addition.

Repeat the last fields for as many times a needed (use the blue +-button down to the right).

File upload

Upload other files here such as images, logs etc. Please add at least one image, as this will be displayed on the map showing our activities.

The track should not be uploaded here, but be sent to the Environmental Data Section manually.

Edits

Nothing for you to complete.

Created, created by, updated, updated by: These fields are updated automatically and only included to show who added the entry in case you need to contact them if something is wrong f.ex.

Comment for major registration updates: Here you can add info about major changes to an entry, f.ex. if you found later that you forgot to include info that will alter the annual statistics.

Statistics

Statistics are counted as person-days, hence the dates for each person must be completed.

Mapview (to come): will contain a nice map view of our expeditions with possibilities to filter the information.

Contact

Siri Uldal Environmental Data Section (technical)

Christina A. Pedersen Research Department (content issues)