App Manual

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.

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 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.)

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.

When you first launch the app, you'll be asked if you want to allow the app to access your location. The location of your posts is an essential part of all apps on SPOTTERON.

Please allow access to the location service the first time you start the app to use it without any problems. On the map, you can see a dot with a circle around it. The dot is the location that the app gets back from your smartphone, and the circle represents approximate accuracy.

In the app, you can always use the location icon:  to jump to your current location. This may take a few moments, depending on the signal strength.

When entering a spot, the map is above the entry form. On the map, there is a crosshair  that points to where you want to locate your entry. You can drag the map to the correct location or use the location symbol here to jump to your current location using the phone's location services (aka GPS).

Any Issues?

To use your location in the app, the Location Service must be enabled in your phone's operating system. There are also several quality levels in the system settings of your smartphone.

If your location is turned off on your smartphone, close the app entirely, turn on the location service, reopen the app, wait a few seconds and click on the icon (see "Create a new spot")

If the location still does not work despite all attempts, it's possible that the app doesn't have permission to access the location service. Please check your app settings in the operating system or uninstall the app again and reinstall it from your App Store. This allows the app to reaccess your location as if the first time the app is launched.

If you can't see any content (map tiles) in the map section, please first check whether your smartphone has an internet connection or is in aeroplane mode. If this is the case, please activate your internet connection and restart the app. If no map content appears despite an internet connection, please change the map type in Main Menu> Settings. Sometimes the map provider may also be temporarily unavailable.

If this does not help, please restart your smartphone completely or uninstall the app to reinstall it. If, despite all these steps, the problem persists, please write us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., including details of your smartphone model, operating system + version and a screenshot. Thank you!

You can block content and other users you don't wish to engage with by logging into the app, open the Spot menu (three dots on the right-hand side), then go to „More“. Here you can choose to eighter „Block content“ (only this spot will be blocked and blurred out), or „Block User“ (all posts by this user will be blurred out). You can reverse this anytime by clicking „Unblock content“ in that Spot.