Credit: Shuvankar of ATREE

If you have reached here and are looking for details on how to use the portal, we have missed some aspect of usability. Please let us know what is missing and what is non-intuitive and we will try and address these issues.

Portal usage should be intuitive and self-explanatory. We have tried to provide mouse-over tool-tips and pop-ups over all components. These should help you while using the portal.

The documentation for the India Biodiversity Portal is minimalistic, but aims to provide adequate information on the following:

• Overview
• Getting Started
• Use and functionality of the Portal
• Framework and Technology of the portal
• FAQs

Overview

The India Biodiversity Portal is conceived as a web application. It has basic map visualization functionality along with the facility for contribution and participation. All data on the portal is organized into layers, as in a typical Geographical Information System. The layer is an independent unit of data and contains the spatial distribution of a particular theme or topic. A layer consists of features that may be point, line or polygon marked in a certain geography. The layers available on the portal are displayed in the navigation tree and can be displayed on the map. These can be turned on and off from the check-box next to the layer. The portal uses the geographical visualization of satellite images, terrain and maps provided by Google maps.

The portal allows users to navigate and zoom into an area of interest, visualize layers that are available on the site, locate and mark areas and upload annotations, pictures and comments to a feature in the layer. All data on the portal can be viewed and visualized freely by all. However, contributing data, adding and annotating features, and adding comments are controlled by a system of roles and associated privileges. These are detailed and explained in the following sections.

Some layers are non-editable and provide the basal layers to visualize and analyze biodiversity data. Layers like rainfall, geology, soils, habitations, populations fall into this category. Users could add a comment to such layers and the features in such layers.

Some layers are the result of studies in biodiversity, ecology and conservation and provide information and insight into the aspects of the spatial distribution of biodiversity. These are usually non-editable, and managed by the person who is responsible for the study.

And certain layers are completely participatory, where all users can participate, marking and annotating locations based on the theme of the layer.