Using Notebook to keep track of your observations

Notebook is a nature observation service created and developed by FinBIF. It can be used by anyone to keep track of one's nature observations, of any taxonomic group, from anywhere in the world.

Notebook serves two purposes:

1. Personal observation notebook, targeted primarily for active naturalists, who want to record thousands of observations per year.
2. Platform for arranging citizen science and other research projects, which collect nature observations (e.g. bird census projects, vegetation mapping projects)

Recording observations

Login to Laji.fi and start making observations! There are few different ways to record observations:

Mobile form can be used to record single observation using a mobile device.

Trip report form can be used to record multiple observations made during a field trip, from a single or multiple places. All the observations are grouped together in a single "document", much like in a traditional notebook.

Saving with a file is an efficient way to record hundreds of observations using a spreadsheet template (e.g. Excel).

First, create a template file by selecting the fields you want to use. Fill in the observations to the template row by row, repeating the data for each observation.

Then, import the file into Notebook. You can link names and terms in your file to those used by the Notebook. After validations, you can save the file into Notebook, which will organize them into logical groups (documents).

Using named places and prefilled forms

If you record observations from same places regularly, you can save the places as Named places (on the trip report form). This saves time.

If you want to prefill more information than just locations, first save a new document using the trip report form, go to My submissions page, and save the document as a prefilled form. Then use this form to save new observations.

Browsing your own observations

Once you have recorded some observations, you can browse them in a few different ways:

The Own submissions -page lists all documents you have recorded. Here you can view, edit and delete them. You can also print labels, if you have a specimen collection.

Laji.fi's search tool can be used to search your own observations. You will see detailed information about your observations, even if they are hidden from the public. You can also further filter the observations with the filters provided, e.g. by location and time.