// HomeUploading Your Walk

Uploading Your Walk

Getting Started

  1. The first step to adding a walk is to login - you can do this by visiting http://urbansoundecology.org/login - your browser may save password information so you may only need to login if you haven't visited the site for a while. You cannot login if you do not have a password so we need to hear from you if you want to get involved in this project.
  2. When you are logged in the top right menu will have your user name and a range of options underneath. Select "Create Content".
  3. This will take you to a page that lists the types of content you can add to the database. At the moment this includes "Story" and "Walk". Select "Walk".

Once you click on "Walk" you'll be presented with a LOT of options. Don't worry, this document is here to make this process as simple as possible. If you find any one step confusing, please contact Greg and he'll improve the instructions.

Adding A Walk

Adding your first walk might be a little confusing, as you are presented quite a lot of interface options. The fact of the matter is this workflow is very straightforward and only involves the following steps, which are quite simple when considered in isolation. These steps are:

  1. Recording your route on the map
  2. Attaching the .mp3 recording of your walk
  3. Selecting the time and date that your walk took place
  4. Giving the walk a name
  5. Selecting the recording device that you used
  6. Providing notes regarding your walk
  7. Adding taxonomy information
  8. Saving your walk

Recording your route on the map

  • The map starts zoomed into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (this is a glitch that will be corrected when we upgrade our map library in the future), so to make sure you click on the little globe icon between the + and - symbols in the upper left – that will zoom you all the way out.
  • Zoom into your city.
  • Pan the map and center it over the start point of your walk. If you need to zoom in to get your bearing, use the "+" and "-" buttons on the upper left.
  • Zoom down until the map roughly frames the start and finish point of your walk.
  • Select the tiny polyline icon in the upper right corner (to the left of the hand). Once you have selected it, it will turn yellow and you can double click the start point of your walk. Click out each point in your path and double click to end your polyline. Make sure your are zoomed in far enough to note which side of the street you are on.
  • If you make a mistake, just click on the polyline button and start again. Alternatively, once your polyline is done – click on the hand icon and then single click on the polyline icon. You will now be able to edit the polyline - you can adjust points to fine-tune your route in this manner – just click on the hand icon to stop editing.
  • Once you have entered your route, move on to the next step.

Attaching the .mp3 file

Before you proceed with this step: Ensure that the .mp3 documenting your walk is named by the following convention DDMMYY-HHMM.mp3 (so 180609-1830.mp3 for June 18th, 2009 - walk commencing at 6:30pm)—once you have renamed your file proceed with the following:

  • The first step is to attach your audio file to the node (database entry) you'll be creating To do this go to the "Audio File Info" box and under "Add a new audio file" hit the "Choose File" button. Locate and select the .mp3 file on your computer. Do not uncheck "Allow file downloads".
  • Next scroll down to "File attachments" - it is underneath the "Body Section" Click on this link and this menu item will open up.

Selecting the time and date of your walk

  • Click on "From date" and select the day/month the walk began on the pop up calendar - enter the time the walk started in 24 hour format (i.e. 18:30 rather than 6:30PM)
  • Click on "To date" and select the day/month the walk ended on the pop up calendar - enter the time the walk ended in 24 hour format (i.e. 18:45 rather than 6:45PM)

Giving the walk a name

We still have not finalized this. For the time being follow the below steps:

  • The "Walk ID" field will say: "[audio-tag-title]" – erase this and replace it with a 3-5 word description of your walk followed by "by Your-first-initial.Your-last-name. (eg. Annex parking lot by G. Smith)

Selecting your recording device

  • Click on "Recording Device".
  • Locate and select the device from the available options. (If you used a recorder that is not on the list just select Edirol and email Greg the full manufacturer/model of the device you used)

Adding Notes:

  • Underneath the area where you just attached your GIS data is a field in which you can enter notes for your walk. This is a simple textual supplement to the geodata you provided. Keep it short and sweet i.e. Powerline corridor – Runnymede Jane just north of St. Clair

Adding Taxonomy Information

  • Scroll down to the "Vocabularies" box.
  • Select the city that you recorded the walk in.
  • Select the temperature range from when you took your walk. If you did not record this information you can approximate it with historical data from Environment Canada [found online here - use the Mean Temp. °C for Toronto of the day you took your walk].
  • Next, select any appropriate weather terms that apply to your walk
  • Finally, type any prominent sounds that were heard during your walk. It is important to be consistent here as this information will be used to organize/cluster groups of walks together, so:
    • Do not use the plural form of a word (bird not birds)
    • Do not use any capital letters (bird not Birds)
    • Be sure to use a comma to separate your terms (eg. bird, streetcar, siren not bird streetcar siren)

Saving Your Walk

The last thing you'll have to do is scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Save" you can also "Preview" the data you've input, but if you do so remember to hit "Save" to finalize your data entry. Depending on the size of your .mp3, it may take 5-10 minutes to upload your walk.