Seasearch's new interactive map and dashboard

In an effort to improve how we make use of the records submitted by our volunteers, over the last couple of years, we have been developing interactive facilities on our website to allow more detailed exploration and interrogation of the dataset.

Seasearch Data Officer, Angus Jackson, takes us through the new developments.

The first addition was an interactive map which can be found on the Data page of the website.

This divides our waters into 1 x 1km grid squares and then colours those squares according to how many times they have been surveyed by Seasearch.

• No colour = no prior visits
• Red = only a single prior visit
• Blue = 2 or more visits over at least 2 years.

The purpose of this map is to provide supporting information when deciding where you might want to survey.

Don't forget all the usual guidance for safe diving and snorkelling still applies, so you need to use common sense about safety before choosing where to dive or snorkel!

Our species records are applied to statistical models that estimate trends in populations (eg the State of Nature report). Records can only be added to the models if there has been more than one visit to a particular 1 x 1km square. Clicking on a square gives some summary information. A visit that changes a square from red to blue means that two additional surveys can contribute to the model. A visit to a blank square is also valuable because it means that we have extended our overall coverage. This is not to say that there is no value in doing a survey in a blue square, particularly if it is at a new point within the square.

More recently, we have introduced a data dashboard.

This allows easy and flexible slicing up of the dataset in different ways and responsive visualisations to illustrate different aspects of the data.

For instance, on the Forms section, a heatmaps shows the distribution and density of Seasearch forms and the map responds to the settings of filters for Date, Country, Region, Type of form, Mode of survey and the person that submitted the form.

Meanwhile, on the Taxa page, the taxonomic composition of the dataset can be filtered by Date, Country, Region and Surveyor. A coloured doughnut chart shows the different Phyla that have been recorded and there is also a table of species.

(As of May 2024, records from 2022-23 are not yet available. This is because the marine biology in the UK has been transferring to a new data storage system. We are working hard on the backlog and hope this will be available soon.)

The dashboard also includes a machine learning feature that predicts when Seasearch will hit the amazing total of 1 million records!

At the moment, it looks like we will reach this milestone next year.

The more forms you submit, the sooner this will happen!

We encourage you all to explore the dataset. To see your own records, you will need to know your Seasearch number. This should be on your qualification booklet, but if you need a reminder, please visit this enquiry page.

We are grateful for any comments or suggestions about the dashboard – please send these to [email protected]

AUTHOR

Dr Angus Jackson
Seasearch Data Officer

Angus joined the Marine Conservation Society in 2018 as the data officer for Seasearch. Much of his working week is spent delving around the large project databases containing records of species and habitats on the seabed around the British Isles.