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General Questions
Wildnote is a feature-rich, customizable platform designed for the environmental services community to streamline the process of field data collection, project management, and reporting. It is cloud-based software available for both the iOS and Android mobile operating systems and integrated web application. Wildnote is a comprehensive solution that allows your environmental team to work more efficiently by reducing staff hours and survey effort, eradicating task duplication and transcription errors, and ultimately saving on monitoring and compliance costs.
Wildnote is comprised of two components: a web app and a mobile device app. The web app software provides access to functions such as workflow, project management, survey forms creation, photo management, data management and reporting. The mobile device app enables you to collect data while in the field—both real time and offline— using the survey forms created through the web app. Wildnote is supported across both iOS and Android phones, iPads and tablets.
The Wildnote app works on iOS platform mobile devices, such as the iPhone and iPad, and on Android phones and tablets.
Wildnote is designed for professionals in the environmental services industry, including environmental consultants, mitigation banks, natural resource managers, ecological scientists, regulatory agencies, as well as citizen scientists who collect, manage and report any data. This app is best suited to compliance and monitoring projects that require significant forms-based data collection such as:
- Environmental compliance
- Biological surveys
- Construction monitoring and compliance
- Ecological restoration
- Mitigation and conservation banking
- Natural resource management
- Wetland management
- Riparian management
- Watershed management
- Habitat assessment and restoration
- Habitat monitoring and conservation management
- Habitat mitigation development
- Regulatory permitting
Not only is Wildnote easy and intuitive, clients have declared our app is actually fun to use! Kristen Hazard, Wildnote Founder and Chief Programming Architect, believes in developing green apps with a “sunny attitude”—apps that are not only feature-rich but joyful to use! So, rest assured you’ll feel comfortable learning our software. Wildnote was designed both by and for people working in the environmental services community, so its features were designed with you and your next survey project in mind.
Yes, the Wildnote app works offline. All data is saved to your mobile device and then you sync the data to Wildnote’s secure servers once you regain cellular service or Wi-Fi connectivity.
Yes, as long as you have the ability to connect with a Wi-Fi service you can download surveys and forms to your device while in the office, then proceed to collect your field data offline. Once you’re back in Wi-Fi range you can sync again to upload your forms data.
Given the time-saving nature of the Wildnote app for monitoring and compliance, your employer’s best financial option would be to buy you a tablet or smart phone for your next environmental project! Nonetheless, if you can’t convince them, you can rent mobile device equipment from a company such as Anatum Field Solutions.
New screen products for mobile devices are coming on the market all the time. One solution is the antiglare film made by Nushield, called NuShield DayVue. This anti-reflective overlay film works by “offering highly increased levels of screen clarity and screen visibility in outdoor situations—settings where glare from the sun, for instance, would otherwise darken a device’s LCD screen. “
Because Wildnote utilizes the mapping hardware and software in your device, the accuracy is that of the device. Most modern smart phones and tablets range from 5-8 meters in accuracy. If you need greater accuracy you can combine an external Bluetooth GPS receiver with your device and get that accuracy down to the 2-3 meter range. If you require more accuracy than that you will need to invest in a mapping grade GPS receiver.
Yes! Wildnote integrates with ArcGIS Online. Users can add ESRI web maps and layers to any project and view these assets within the Wildnote mobile app map view by logging in with their ArcGIS online credentials.
You can collect points, lines and polygons with the Wildnote mobile app (currently iOS only) and export that data using our GeoJSON export. For answers to more of your map specific questions, see this Mapping FAQ article.
Yes, you can save a latitude and longitude point within your Wildnote surveys and forms while offline. You do not need to be connected to WiFi or a cellular network to save the latitude and longitude point, but you do need to make sure your location services are enabled for the Wildnote App. If you want to see a map while offline you need to download the map before you go out in the field and lose connectivity.
Interestingly, you can save latitude and longitude points without displaying a map. It seems a bit disorienting because you see a blank screen when you first click on the lat/long survey question. But once you save the point you will see the signed degrees formatted numbers for latitude and longitude.
At this time, the Wildnote App uses only the signed degree format. South latitudes and West longitudes are displayed with a minus sign. Latitudes range from -90 to 90. Longitudes range from -180 to 180.
Offline maps are coming soon!
Wildnote is rich with customizable features, including custom survey form creation, project management, report generation – and many more! Our Features page has a full list of Wildnote’s customizable features or for a more detailed description, you can download the Wildnote App White Paper in PDF format.
While the web app interface is only in English at this time, you can create and deploy your custom survey forms in any language. However, support for other languages is on our development roadmap.
Yes, please contact us at support@wildnoteapp.com or phone, +1 (8O5) 664-OO4O.
First of all, please know that as a company, one of our core values is to be helpful, and we truly enjoy providing support and interacting with our clients. Here are the ways to get your questions answered:
- Use the chat icon on your screen to ask your question.
- Go to our knowledge base for a variety of “how to” articles: Wildnote Help Articles
- Check out our Wildnote Youtube channel
- Call us directly at +1-805-664-0040
- Email us at support@wildnoteapp.com
- We recommend that you also sign up for our environmental newsletter, Wildnote Buzz, which offers the latest tips and tricks for getting the most out of our environmental survey and project management app.
Field Data Collection & Survey Form Questions
It’s easy and fun to create a field data survey in Wildnote! Wildnote includes a customizable survey form builder which enables you to create and edit your own surveys. There are over 20 types of questions and options, designed to allow you full control in tailoring your survey. With a customized survey, you can collect precisely the data you need—which in turn enables you to manipulate collected data into reports that provide meaningful information. Please visit our survey knowledge base for more details. We provide training and customer support should you need assistance in creating a survey. Start a free trial and create your own survey.
Absolutely. If you’d prefer the team at Wildnote to create your survey, please contact us at support@wildnoteapp.com.
No. You can create unlimited surveys for any purpose and use them for any purpose.
Yes, Wildnote offers a survey template library with templates specific to the environmental services community. Chances are, the surveys we have created won’t be exactly what you need, but you can use these pro forma templates as a base for your own survey, thus saving time. Our library of forms and reports includes:
- SWPPP
- Spill
- Invasive Species
- Botanical
- Wildlife
- Nest
- Vehicle Inspection
- Wetland Delineation
- Compliance
- Construction Compliance
- Cultural Resource Management Forms
- California DPR 523 Forms
Yes, we do have a comprehensive California plant and animal list with both common and scientific names including meta data such as whether or not a plant or animal is listed etc., U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Wetland Plant Lists, Cal-IPC, USDA plant lists for all 50 states and more. These lists can easily be incorporated into your own custom survey forms. Once the lists are loaded in your survey form, they use “smart search” technology, allowing you to narrow your search by simply typing the first few letters of a common or scientific name.
Yes, Wildnote can import any custom taxonomy lists you may be using. Please contact us at support@wildnoteapp.com.
Yes, Wildnote allows you to define a field as required, ensuring your census is completed in greater detail and you won’t go back to the office with incomplete data!
You can only make changes to a survey form from the web app. You can always add new questions even after data has been collected in a project. However, you cannot delete questions that already have data associated with them. We recommend you always include a hide and show question type called “Other” which when selected will reveal a text field for inputting unanticipated information.
Yes, Wildnote integrates with your device’s voice-to-text commands, enabling you to dictate survey notes. If you are working offline, it is important to make sure you have set your device to enable offline speech recognition.
Photo Management & Integration Questions
Yes! No more going back to the office and matching up your photos to your surveys, thus saving you time and frustration. You can set up a “photo” field or answer type when you create a survey. Once this field type is defined, the Wildnote app will automatically store the image’s meta data when a photo is taken from within the survey. You also have an option to caption the image. In addition, you can select a previously taken photo or attach/replace a photo later. You can also add video and documents to your custom survey forms.
Yes! We have been receiving very positive feedback from people who work in environmental compliance and monitoring that our photo management is saving them huge amounts of time. The Wildnote app automatically associates photos taken within a survey with that particular survey. When it is time for you to generate a PDF report, you no longer have to hunt for the right photos from a separate file, as they are automatically embedded with your report. In addition, the Wildnote app automatically names your photos according to the project name, survey name, and date.
Yes, Wildnote geotags any field photos taken from within the app.
Photos are automatically associated with the survey and displayed in the PDF report. Wildnote also has a “Photo Sheet” Export which displays all photos, photo details, and captions for a particular survey or set of surveys. NOTE: Photos are not exported to Excel.
Yes. When photos are downloaded, Wildnote combines all photos into one or more .zip files. As part of this process Wildnote renames the image file as follows:
ProjectName-SurveyName-LocationName-SurveyDate-SurveyID-OriginalFileName.jpg
This ensures that photos are always easily identified with the appropriate project and survey and are quick to locate. The photo gallery easily allows those preparing environmental reports to selectively use survey images in other programs.
In addition, you can set your photos to sync to a Dropbox account.
Compliance Reports & Agency Export Questions
Can I have a customized report developed for my project?
Wildnote supports data export to Excel, Excel Pivot, CSV via Excel, and KML. In addition, data and photos are easily exported together into a professionally formatted PDF report, presented with your company logo. Clients have endorsed this feature as a significant time saver, especially for any type of compliance reporting.
Yes, please contact us at support@wildnoteapp.com or call +1 (8O5) 664-OO4O to speak with us about your reporting requirements. A custom report builder is on the development road map for the Wildnote app.
Software Pricing & Licensing Questions
Great news! Wildnote offers a free trial, no credit card required. Sound good? Start a free trial of the Wildnote environmental data collection software.
No, unlimited data and photo storage are an advantage of our competitive pricing package.
We have tiered annual pricing for multiple users, as well as enterprise pricing for more than 100 users. Please visit our Features and Pricing page for details on our pricing packages. No matter what plan you choose, our aim is to provide a 10 to 1 return on your investment!
No, each active user must have an account of their own with an individual username and password. Users can be archived when a user is not actively collecting data, which then frees a license up for another user.
Yes, you may cancel at any time. However, we hope that before you decide to cancel you give us the opportunity to ensure you’re getting the most out of our app. We’re happy to discuss any new features or modifications you require, or to address any problems you may be experiencing. We’re here to help and want you to be part of our Wildnote family!
We believe in “easy in and easy out” for your data. If you should discontinue your Wildnote subscription you would have the capability of exporting all collected data from our system via the various reporting options.
The first person in your organization to establish an account with Wildnote becomes the default “Company Administrator”. As the administrator, they can then invite other users to join. Monthly billing will be based on the number of active users during a given month. Annual subscriptions are also available. You can check out our annual plans on our Features and Pricing page. No matter what, the first step is signing up for our Free Trial.
We use Stripe for credit card transactions. We do not store your credit card information in our database.
Data Security, Offline Data Collection & Cloud Backup Questions
All data synced to the cloud is encrypted, and then stored on secured Wildnote servers and backed up. Once synced, it can be downloaded and stored on company or personal servers, as well.
When collecting data in the field, it’s important to sync to our servers as often as possible to avoid possible data loss from mobile device failure. We have twice daily backups, one runs at 7am and the other at 7pm. Our database is also mirrored live so we have immediate live data redundancy.
The Administrator user assigns roles and permissions to all users. Only those with appropriate permissions can access data for any given project.
Yes. The Administrator can assign permissions on a project-by-project basis, with three levels of access within each project. This structure allows for users to have different permissions (and therefore roles) for different projects. Available roles are Administrator, Field Lead and Field User. An additional role of Auditor will be available in the near future.
No. The Administrator must assign you a role before you can collect data.
Wildnote Administrator is the first person to sign-up for Wildnote. This person has access to everything and is the only person who can update business information.
Admin can access all data and manage all aspects of the project(s).
Field Lead can access all team member’s surveys on projects where he/she is assigned Field Lead.
Field User can only access their surveys on their assigned projects.
Yes, the Administrator has all permissions and is responsible for assigning all roles and permissions.
You can review our privacy policy here: https://web.wildnoteapp.com/privacy
