Hello VEGMappers, 😊

We’re closing the year off and we’d like to share our progress on the VEGMAPhoto project. So far, we have represented 250 vegetation types, with 20 new vegetation types represented.
Thank you to each one of you for adding your observations on our globally recognised project. We appreciate all contributions made by each observer and identifier.
View some of the landscape photos from VEGMAPhoto that were included in the Global Vegetation Project here: http://gveg.wyobiodiversity.org/
Below we have a map of our VEGMAPhoto progress. Darker green shades represent vegetation types that have the most landscape photographs, whereas the white space represent types that have not been tagged into this project yet.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10-8lmLokIZTHMEAKQFsx9RBs3qTxyKjE/view?usp=drive_link

For a list of vegetation types that do not have images, click here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pV_xCzl7NIRG1FFYPGeuF5zrU86mm4Vc/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=109687596296455167811&rtpof=true&sd=true
When contributing your observations, please remember to fill out all necessary fields to the best of your ability. To report on pressures affecting specific regions within vegetation types, fields like Ecological integrity and observed biotic and abiotic stresses are extremely helpful.
Please be aware that if you have a lot of landscape pictures with GPS coordinates that you'd like to contribute to the project but don't have the time to upload them, email us at vegmap@sanbi.org.za and we'll help you out by doing it for you.
We are looking forward to more landscape images.
Till next time, keep well and happy holidays. 🎅🎄
Kagiso Mogajane, on behalf of the VEGMAP team. 😊

Hey, VEGMappers, 😊
It’s that time again to share the progress on the VEGMAPhoto project. So far, we have represented 248 vegetation types, with an additional 19 new vegetation types represented since our last report. Yay!

Thank you to each one of you for adding your observations on our globally recognised project. We appreciate all contributions made by each observer and identifier.

View some of the landscape photos from VEGMAPhoto that were included in the Global Vegetation Project here: http://gveg.wyobiodiversity.org/

Below we have a map of our VEGMAPhoto progress. Darker green shades represent vegetation types that have the most landscape photographs, whereas the white space represent types that have not been tagged into this project yet.

For a list of vegetation types that do not have images, click here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/178pqp46gocmo14uIlphYOOWDDuvpCsW8/edit#gid=1124493966

When contributing your observations, please remember to fill out all necessary fields to the best of your ability. In order to report on pressures affecting specific regions within vegetation types, fields like Ecological integrity and Observed biotic and abiotic stresses are extremely helpful.

Please be aware that if you have a lot of landscape pictures with GPS coordinates that you'd like to contribute to the project but don't have the time to upload them, email us at vegmap@sanbi.org.za and we'll help you out by doing it for you.

We are looking forward to more landscape images.

Till next time, keep well and let’s keep ball rolling.

Kagiso Mogajane, on behalf of the VEGMAP team. 😊

Dear VEGMappers 😊

We appreciate your feedback regarding the request of a more interactive map that will distinctly show vegetation types that warrant representation.

We have created a Google Earth version which can be downloaded here: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12143/8547. Please be patient when landing an error the server where the file is located may be down.
The file is located towards the bottom of the page, continue to click View/Open to download the zipped file and the KMZ file can be imported to Google Earth.

Please note that areas without colour do not have landscape photos tagged in this project and areas in darker green indicate vegetation types that have more landscape photos while lighter shade spaces indicate types with a smaller number of observations.

Until our next update, Happy iNatting Naturalists!
Sam Msweli on behalf of the VEGMAP team 😊

Dear VEGMappers 😊

It is a pleasure to report that we have now collected landscape photos in 192 of our 459 vegetation types, that is an additional 28 vegetation types since our last progress report and a total of 42% of all our vegetation types. We acknowledge the great progress made with your valuable contributions. There are now over 2 400 observations, and 293 identifiers and observers.
Thank you for supporting the VEGMAPhoto project, and to new identifiers and observers; Welcome!

Please take a moment to look at our progress and hard work in the map below. Areas in darker green indicate vegetation types that have more landscape photos while white spaces indicate types that have not yet been tagged in this project.

It is interesting to note that the leading vegetation types with over 100 observations is Sundays Arid Thicket, followed by Winburg Grassy Shrubland, Highveld Alluvial Vegetation and then Central Free State Grassland.

Keep on thinking of the VEGMAPhoto project while you are on field adventures and take landscape photos to share with the project. Remember to include a photo of a dominant species for that specific vegetation type.
Importantly, please keep it to one vegetation type per observation.

Remember, if you have old landscape photos with GPS co-ordinates that you would like to share with the project and don’t have the time to load them into the project, email us at vegmap@sanbi.org.za and we will assist you by uploading them for you.

Until our next update, Happy iNatting Naturalists!
Sam Msweli on behalf of the VEGMAP team 😊

Dear VEGMappers

We are happy to report that together we have effectively collected landscape images in 164 of our 459 vegetation types thus far! [That’s an additional 84 vegetation types on the map since our last post], and over 1300 observations uploaded by 150 observers and identifiers. Thank you for the excellent support!
The aim of the VEGMAP Project (http://bgis.sanbi.org/vegmap) is to acquire and update our knowledge of the distribution of the mapped vegetation, landscape features, and the threat status of each vegetation type. Through the VEGMAPhoto subproject we hope to co-create a visual guide showing a range of communities in each of our vegetation types.

You can take a look at the map below showing the distribution of observations in this project. Vegetation types in darker green have more images while white spaces indicate types that have not yet been tagged in this project.

Keep up with the active progress, we still have 295 more vegetation types to represent!
Kindly share those holiday snaps of landscape views and scenery, and tag VEGMAPhoto (s Afr).

VEGMappers, we appreciate your input regarding App improvements, and vegetation types that are not yet available for tagging, we are working on getting better. We also acknowledge your patience and cooperation while the curators are working on your observations populating required information.

Remember, if you have images with GPS co-ordinates that you would like to share with the project, email us at vegmap@sanbi.org.za and we will assist you by uploading them for you.

Until our next update, Happy iNatting Naturalists!
Sam Msweli on behalf of the VEGMAP team 😊

Dear VEGMappers

It's already been nearly three years since this project began! In that time 54 of us have joined the project with an incredible 307 observations uploaded and identified by 22 members and 70 identifiers. Thanks to everyone!

These images, and the data you provide on the condition of the habitat and communities present are invaluable to the VEGMAP Project (http://bgis.sanbi.org/vegmap) and the associated assessments and processes that it feeds into. We thought that now would be a good time to take stock of where we are with our goal of building a catalogue of the many communities that exist within each vegetation type.

So far we have collected photographs for just over 80 of our 459 vegetation types. The map below shows the distribution of photographs in this project. Vegetation types in darker green have more images while white spaces indicate types that have not yet been tagged in this project.

While progress has been good, there are still over 350 vegetation types that have not been photographed and added to the project!

So while you're out and about during the upcoming City Nature Challenge remember to take a few landscape images of the ecosystem as well, and tag VEGMAPhoto (s Afr). If you have a backlog of images with GPS co-ordinates but don't have the time to upload them yourself, email us at vegmap@sanbi.org.za and we will assist you by uploading them for you.

Until our next update, Happy iNatting!
The Vegmap Team

Hello Naturalists

Thank you all for contributing to the VEGMAPhoto (s Afr) project thus far! Thanks to you, our number of observations are slowly increasing. As we are approaching the holiday season, a lot of us will be traveling through South Africa to wild and beautiful places. This is your chance to capture your surroundings of beautiful South African landscapes and upload them to the VEGMAPhoto (s Afr) project. We appreciate all your efforts to help increase our observations and we can’t wait to see what you will be posting next! We wish you safe travels and a happy holiday :)

The aim of this project is to collect representative photographs of vegetation types listed in the VEGMAP project classification system (the latest map and list of types can be found at http://bgis.sanbi.org/vegmap)

Instructions here:

ACCESSING DATA.

.
The Vegetation Type data are stored by Biome. To view species observations in any Biome type, select one of the following fields
ALBANY THICKET https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7863
FOREST https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7865
FYNBOS https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7867
GRASSVELD https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7869
NAMA KAROO https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7872
RENOSTERVELD https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7868
SAVANNA https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7870
SUCCULENT KAROO https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7871
SUBANTARCTIC https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7866
AZONAL https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7864

Within each biome you can select any veld type to view observations just for this veld type.

To view Vegetation Types in Observation format (for Maps, Thumbnail Views and Lists, you will need to add the field and project to the url of the observation like so:
project: &project_id=vegmaphoto-s-afr
field: &field:SA%20Veg:%20Fynbos%20Types=Swellendam%20Silcrete%20Fynbos%20FFc%201
so:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=grid&place_id=113055&project_id=vegmaphoto-s-afr&field:SA%20Veg:%20Fynbos%20Types=Swellendam%20Silcrete%20Fynbos%20FFc%201

To view species observations tagged with the veld type, leave out the project:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?field:SA%20Veg:%20Fynbos%20Types=Swellendam%20Silcrete%20Fynbos%20FFc%201

SUBMITTING DATA.

Guidelines for submissions:

1. Landscape photographs that represent the characteristics of vegetation described in the vegetation type (i.e communities of plants that define the vegetation type) are preferred.
2. A photograph of a dominant species within the type is needed for compatibility with iNat. But focus on the habitat rather than the species.

How it Works:
1, Load the observation. Include all the information you want under the description. Note that the observation will be "filed" under its dominant species in the second picture. Observations without a dominant species will cause issues, so please always include it.

1. Add this project
2. Select a single veld type from the appropriate Biome - only one - leave all the other Biomes blank. You must load one (and only one) type. (if you accidentally add extras, you can delete them later: on the observation click on the field name to open menu)

3. ADD save the vegetation type
   5.Record the Community. Vegetation types contain many communities. (many even contain communities typical of other biomes!!!). Please record the community: typically this states two of the dominant or typical species (must include one or two grasses in grassveld), and some other community feature. If there is a published community name, then please use that. Vegetation communities are typically done through Braun-Blanquet type surveys, but can also be done via a number of other surveys, but all emphasize the component species rather than some other facet (such as catena or landscape facet or habitat).This is a required field. Use "Unknown" if you dont know. ADD

4. Veld condition. Please record. This can be from transformed, trashed, through to degraded, and even overprotected. "Natural" is typically one of degraded, well utilized or overprotected, depending on the grazing and fire regimes. This is a required field. Select Unknown if you forgot to assess or if you dont know. ADD.
5. and then ADD (save) the project

Note: the location is the location of the photograph - not some other place (such as a centroid or 'type" locality). Similarly the species are those in the photograph at the site photographed, not some wish list, copied off a billboard or a makeshift community.

MORE.

To see the vegetation communities:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/8773
To see the Biomes:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/7498
To see the Vegetatype type conditions:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/8774