In the App, you can interact with other users. Each project on the SPOTTERON platform includes a user community, and you have a variety of interaction options at your disposal.

Liking Spots and Comments 

In the posts of the other users: inside the App, you will find a heart above. If you like a post by a user or a user, you can mark it with a heart (liken). The author of the spot will get a notification.

Next to the heart is a number that shows how many times different users have liked the post:

You can also like individual comments with the heart button in the comments that are under an entry.

Commenting on Spots 

In the detail-view of other entries, you can comment on the respective spot and share your thoughts, make correction suggestions, or even ask questions if you need help.

Each comment has a time log, and you can express your appreciation (like) by clicking on the heart icon.

The comments are publicly visible and should not be used for private conversations. Please always be polite and follow the netiquette and community guidelines of the Terms of Use!

Share Entries

The Share feature allows you to share entries on social media and smartphone apps with many other apps such as messengers and note apps. If you share entries on other platforms, you are actively helping to promote the project and the App to your friends!

With the share button, you can also use the direct link to an entry, and you can send the link with any medium, e.g. e-mail.

Follow /unfollow users. 

To avoid missing new entries from certain users, you can follow them: click on the profile picture or the name in an entry to go to the user's profile. There, you can click on "follow" to connect with them. The user gets a notification, and he or she may follow you back.

With the user search in the main menu, you can search for your friends and acquaintances on the platform.

Upper line:

This is the upper line of a SPOTTERON app, zoomed in:

At the top is the logo of the project. You can press this to get to an info text about the project and the imprint. To the right of this, there are three essential elements:

Spots Counter: Here you can see the total number of posts in each project. Pressing it opens the list of current new entries in the app by you and other users.

Activity Notifications: This number shows you if there is personal news about your posts, community, or project itself. You can use this item to open a list of activities and notifications (newsfeed).

Log-In/Logged in User: If you are already logged in to the app, the 3rd panel shows your profile picture. If this is still not the case, the area shows a key icon, and you can press it to get to the login area. When you are logged in, tapping the profile picture opens the list of activities and notifications (newsfeed) and the other pages of your user profile, such as your Spot Collection, people you follow on the platform, and your public profile information.

Middle Section of the App:

At first, the middle section shows the map. If you allowed access to your location the first time you started the app, the map automatically zooms to your approximate location. In the middle section of the app, you will see the different panels, community panels, and the app's input dialogue. You can close each panel again with the X button to return to the full map view.

Lower Line:

This is the lower line of a SPOTTERON app:

At the bottom are the main elements for navigating between each app area.

Filters: in the Filter Panel, you can use various display options to filter the map entries and lists. Active filters are indicated with an icon on the map.

Lists: the list panel shows the entries in the app. In the panel heading, you can switch between different views:

• The default view is the chronological list (New Spots), where you can always see the latest posts in the app.
• The Visible Spots View lists the entries and stacks in the current section of the map.

Add Spot: In the middle, there is a central button for entering new spots.

Statistics: the statistics panel contains various summaries. You can switch back and forth between the different areas at the top of the panel or by swiping. The individual areas are:

• Ranking: here, you can see the most active users: in the app
• Top categories: here, you can see the most frequently entered main categories in the app
• Interactive timeline: here, you can select main categories and display their frequency as statistics over time

Main menu: In the main menu, you will find access to other core areas of the app, the settings and also the upload waiting list of your offline entries

For Browser Maps

In the browser map, you can use the same functions as in the smartphone app. You can find the individual areas via the horizontal menu in the upper bar.

You will find the icon to open the registration form at the bottom left to enter new spots.

At the top right, you can see the icons for Android and IOS. There you can open the respective app store pages to install the smartphone app for the project.

In the main menu, you will find information about the project, "Waiting Spots" that you have created as a draft, messages from the project, your user profile, personal settings (e.B. language and map background), the intro instructions, the possibility to search for other users and a button to unsubscribe from the app.

About the project: Here, you'll find a detailed description of the project and further links.

Add Spot: In addition to adding in the main view, you can also create a new spot from here.

Waiting Spots: Here, you will find all spots that you haven't uploaded yet, e.B. if you were offline when you entered or saved posts to the waiting list. You can access these locally stored entries in the following dialogue, control them, edit them again and then upload them to the project.

Messages: From time to time, the project managers or SPOTTERON send a message to all users. You will find them all listed chronologically in this section. 

Events: In doing projects, there are events and events, e.g. workshops or themed events. You can list them under this menu item. 

Your Profile: Another way to access your user profile and the different areas. Here's also edit mode for your profile, where you can provide more information, change your display name, add a profile picture, specify your interests, and more.

Search User: Here, you can search for other users and then follow them. So you can create your network of friends and interesting contacts in the app and on the platform, and you never miss their latest posts or comments.

Offline Maps & Spots: You can save a snippet of the map to your smartphone to use when you're offline. The offline maps can also be managed and deleted in this interface. You can also list and manage your locally stored offline spots in the following section.

Settings: Here, you can change the language of the app, the design of the card, as well as your password. The settings also include options for receiving a copy of your saved cards and deleting your user account and personal data on SPOTTERON.

Replay Intro: Here, you can replay the intro that appears when you first open the app.

Logout: Here, you can log out from the app on your current device.

You can add multiple entries to a location by creating timelines. The  icon in the detail view allows you to add additional observations to your spot. Alternatively, you can add another entry from the Spot menu by clicking on 'Update Spot'.

You can drag (swipe) left and right in a spot to scroll through the chronological time series in the app. Also, in the tabs below the details of a post, you can find the SPOT UPDATES area. Here you can see an overview of all Spots in the timeline.

(Please note that the Spot Update feature is not enabled in all apps on the SPOTTERON platform.)

To delete one of your entries, click on the icon with the three dotsand select "Delete spot". in the upper right corner and select "Delete Spot". If your spot is an entry in a timeline (spot update), only the spot will be deleted. The rest of the timeline remains.

If the entry "Delete Spot" is not visible, the project managers may have already validated the post. If this is the case, your spot will receive a green award:  - Once your Spot has been checked and validated, you cannot change or delete it. If you still want to perform a deletion, please contact the project managers.

If you want to correct a spot, you can go into edit mode in the app for your own posts. To do this, use the pen icon  in the Spot view. After that, you can change the categories and attributes of the post, for example, to change the classification, correct text errors or exchange the photo.

Change the position on the map.

In Edit mode, you can also correct the position on the map by dragging the card under the crosshair to the correct location. If it's an entry in a time series, go to the first entry in your series.

Save changes

When you've made your changes and everything looks good, press "Save" again. After uploading the edit, you will receive a short confirmation message that your changes have been successful.

Your spot is locked?

Project leaders can review and validate contributions. If this is the case, your spot will receive a green award:  - Once your spot is checked and validated, you cannot change it anymore. If you still want to make changes, please contact the project leaders.

Open the "Add Spot" Dialogue:

Press the + symbol in the middle below to enter a new spot, and a new dialogue "Enter spot" opens.

Select a Category

What do you observe? Select the correct category for your observation item.
Tip: Depending on the project/app you participate in, there are different questions and information that you can fill in. Not all are mandatory, but the more information you can enter, the better! Don't worry if you don't know everything in the beginning. The community and the project leaders are here to support you, and we help each other out!

Take a Picture of your observation! 

There are two ways you can add a picture to your observation:
1) Click on the camera symbol  to open the camera on your smartphone. Take a photo. 
2) Open the gallery on your smartphone by clicking on the image icon . Choose a photo you took before and upload it to the app.

Note: To upload or take a picture with the App, you have to allow it to have access to your phone's camera and photo folder. The App will ask your permission the first time you use it after installing - click "Accept".

Look at the location on the map!

Above the entry form, you can see the map. There is a crosshair pointing to where you want to locate your entry. You can drag the map to the correct location or use the location symbol  beneath the binoculars in the map to jump to your current location when entering your spot using the phone's location services (aka GPS). This may take a few moments, depending on signal strength.

Suppose the crosshairs  do not automatically jump to your current location when using the location symbol. In that case, you can also search for it via the address or manually drag the map to the correct location under the thread.

Note: Entering the correct location on the map is very important for most projects, as the contributions are always location-based. Help keep the data quality high and please always pay attention to the correct place. Thank you!

Private Spots

Sometimes you may not want to let others know where exactly you made your spot, e.g. if you found an endangered species or when you're observing your own garden. You can hide the location in the app from other users by selecting "Hide coordinates" above the save button - so your spot is visible in the list view and can be commented on by other users, but the marker does not appear on the map. With "Hide Spot", you can hide your post completely from others in the app - so your spot is only visible to you and the project admins.

Save Spot

After you click "Save", your spot will appear on the map. Congratulations, you just created your first spot! A short message with a thank you pops up for confirmation.

If you're not already logged in to the App, the App asks if you want to log in. The App saves your Spot in the queue, and you can upload it later.

 Save Spot for Later Upload

Not quite sure about your spot yet? With the hourglass icon at the bottom right, you can put your spot on the waiting list and upload it later. This option is convenient if you're in an area where there's no internet connection.

You're not alone in the App - besides entering new posts on the map, there's an entire community that welcomes you! Many functions are available to interact with the other participants.

Your Profile & the Community

By clicking on your profile picture at the top right, you access your user profile.

Your user profile consists of the list of notifications from the App, an overview of your posts, your badges, and your profile, which you can edit with the pen icon. You can switch between the individual areas via the icons at the top right or by swiping in the panel. If you keep scrolling, you will still find lists of users you follow and follow you.

Notifications (Newsfeed)

The central view is the notifications that summarise all activities and news from your Friends network and the project chronologically. Here you will find the latest new spots from users you follow in the App, comments on your own posts or replies to your comments in other spots, news that the project has sent to all users or notifications about your posts such as likes and content corrections by moderators.

Your Spot Collection

The second panel provides a collection of your own posts in the App.

Badges

By being active in the App, you can collect a variety of funny badges. After creating your first spot, you will find a little thank you for participating.

Public Profile

You can provide additional information about you, your background, motivation, and equipment to your account. These are optional and will be displayed to other people in the app to help your friends find you on the SPOTTERON platform and connect with you.

More Panels

If you scroll further to the right (swipe), you will get to the overview pages of the users you follow on the platform and those who follow you. You can use the Button sequences to link yourself to other users.