beetle on a passionflower, by Jonathan Landsman

Build This Map. . .


Log in to edit this map

. . . and share your data with other citizen scientists, and the world

Now that you have made your observations, you have information about local plants and wildlife that nobody else has. It's time to publish your data, so that you and others can see how your observations fit into the big picture of your neighborhood and the city at large.

Log in to the GoogleMaps account created for this project, using 

Username: MiamiWild
Password: challengekids
Your browser should go straight to the map called "Miami Wildlife Corridor." This is the one you can edit; the other maps are read-only and are there to help you understand your data in a broader context. You may see colored bubbles appear on the map. These represent data points added by other student scientists, places where other native plants and visiting animals have been observed as part of this project.

Please do not move or change the points added by other students! This would really mess up the project and it would be impossible to recover that data.
This is the map you will be adding your data to and, when you write your report for the Challenge, it will also be the source of valuable data. Click the "Edit" button in the left pane to be able to add points to the map.

Entering Your Data

For each group of plants you observed, add one placemark. You can search for the place you found the plants by typing its address into the search bar, or just scroll around the map until you find it. Once you find the location, click the "add placemark" button in the upper left of the map and place the mark where you observed plants.

The text window that opens is where you will enter a summary of your data. Include, in this order:

  1. The date and time you made observations
  2. The plant species you found
  3. The maximum counts of each kind of animal you saw visiting
  4. Other notes about the site you wish to include for others
Use different-color placemarkers for different plant species: blue for coffee, red for firebush, green for romerillo
If you observed multiple groups of plants, add a single placemark for each group of plants of a single species. For example, if you find firebush and romerillo growing in one spot, you would need to add two points there, nearly right on top of each other.

That's it! Once you have added your data onto the Google Map, you are done with the experimental protocol. You may have taken other notes on your worksheet while out in the field. Save these; you will need them when you write up your booklet for the Fairchild Challenge Environmental Action assignment. Now, for your last step in the completion of this project it's time to get creative.