Frequently Asked Questions
A list of commonly asked questions to help you navigate the ACT Network and its Data Portal.
General FAQs
How do I become an ACT member?
Send an email to east.coast.telemetry@gmail.com. You will be added to the ACT member listserv. By being an ACT member, you agree to the terms of our User Agreement.
If you are starting a new project, we require 3 metadata types:
- project metadata
- instrument deployment metadata
- tagging metadata
What is the difference between the Data Portal and the Database?
ACT's Data Portal website (https://data.theactnetwork.com/) is similar to DropBox or another file repository service. While there are helpful links and tools to explore, this site is mainly used to hold private repository folders for each project. In your project folder or repository, you can add files which can be viewed by anyone who has been given access. These folders are also where ACT will upload your Detection Extracts following Data Pushes.
ACT's database is built on PostgreSQL/PostGIS and is hosted on the cloud with Digital Ocean. Members do not have direct write access to the database: the files posted in your Data Portal folder will be downloaded, quality controlled and loaded into the database by your Data Manager.
Who has access to my raw data?
Your Node Manager and the OTN Data Team have access to all ACT Network Data to ensure proper processing and verification. In addition, individual ACT members in which the Principal Investigator designates will have access to download files. Members must be logged in and no one without a login will be able to view your raw data files.
How do I make my data publicly accessible?
Principal Investigators should check their funding data policy requirements. To meet federal mandates you can choose to publish tag detection datasets to OBIS and GBIF, which makes them findable and accessible, including through platforms such as Wild Moves. Please reach out to the Node Manager, east.coast.telemetry@gmail.com for further guidance.
How do I upload data?
Check out our tutorials and resources! You can always reach out to east.coast.telemetry@gmail.com with questions.
When should I upload my data?
Anytime! All loaded data will be processed for the upcoming Data Push. Each Data Push has a set upload deadline, any data loaded after that deadline will be processed for the next Data Push. A push schedule can be found on the home page.
What is the RWSC Research Planning Map?
The Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative (RWSC) brings federal and state agencies, industry, nonprofits and scientists together. They have developed the Research Planning Map which displays the locations (points, transects, areas) where wildlife and environment data are being collected offshore in U.S. Atlantic waters including acoustic receiver locations and associated project details. If you would like to participate, reach out to your Node Manager.
What is a Data Push?
A regularly scheduled data processing event (February, June, and October) by which detections are matched to tag owners across all OTN affiliated nodes. During this Data Push process our databases are backed up, the website is updated and detection matches are released to all relevant projects.
If you're expecting detection extracts but have not yet received them, it is likely your project is queued for the next Data Push. Please reach out to the Node Manager if you have concerns.
Why can I view/receive emails for projects that I don't remember joining?
If you are unsure why you can see a certain project please reach out to your node manager, east.coast.telemetry@gmail.com.
If you are receiving Detection Extract notification emails for a certain project, it means you have been granted access to that project. It's possible that a colleague registered you as a project collaborator without your knowledge and therefore you have been added to the project folder. If you would like to stop receiving these emails please contact east.coast.telemetry@gmail.com.
How do I add a new collaborator or update contacts to my project?
To add an additional researcher/collaborator to your project, you should email east.coast.telemetry@gmail.com. Note: only a Principal Investigator is able to add new contacts to a project, so please confirm you hold the appropriate role when requesting a change or ask the PI of the project to send the email.
Who can make decisions about my data/project?
Anyone who is identified as a Principal Investigator holds decision-making power over a project's data. In certain situations, all PIs will have to be in agreement (for example, when deciding to make data public). Only a PI can give access to new collaborators and control publication rules.
My PI retired or left the organization; how do I remove them?
Once someone has been named a Principal Investigator, only they can initiate the request to change that role, no one else (not even other PIs!) can remove them. Please have the PI email east.coast.telemetry@gmail.com to self-remove. If they are officially disassociated, they will still receive credit for data that was collected during their time with the project, but will no longer receive email notifications about detection data updates, and their permission will no longer be required to make changes to data access or publication rules for this project (for example, they could not request a data embargo).
Data and Metadata FAQs
Should I keep receivers and tags in one project?
That is up to the discretion of the Principal Investigator. However, it might be more efficient to keep your arrays separate from your tagging studies as the arrays tend to support multiple projects and be longer term. You may also want to build projects based on the funding source. Feel free to reach out to the Node Manager for more advice.
I found a mistake in my receiver/tag metadata, what should I do?
Please report the mistake to east.coast.telemetry@gmail.com as soon as possible for correction. This is especially important for errors regarding station locations since these lat/longs are provided to taggers who have had animals detected at that location.
Tip: Do not send a corrected metadata template, describe the error in the email. Corrections are processed manually.
You often find mistakes in my metadata. What is your QA/QC process that finds these?
OTN developed an extensive suite of tools for Node Managers called Nodebooks that ACT employs. These tools check for things such as:
- Is each receiver deployed in exactly one place at one time?
- Are detections from when the receiver was in the water?
- Are tags deployed in no more than one animal at a time?
- Is the detection from after a tag was released and before the tag battery died?
- Do the tag serial number/ID code match the provided vendor specification or is there a typo?
OTN always performs a second verification check on the data after it has been loaded to ensure the Nodebooks functioned correctly and no error slipped through.
How does ACT correct for receiver timedrift?
ACT's Data Manager toolbox (the Nodebooks) corrects for timedrift between each initialization and offload of a receiver. If a receiver is offloaded several times in one data file, time correction does not occur linearly from start to end, but between each download, to ensure the most accurate correction. If there is only one download in a data file then the time correction in vendor software will match the time correction performed by ACT.
Why does ACT request my vendor specifications?
We use the vendor-provided specifications to check for typos in serial numbers, tagID, tag code spaces and estimated tag lives that occur on manual data entry. Many of these errors can affect tag matching: if ID code, code space, or tag life are incorrect it may result in the inability to match those tags. Instead of sending tagging specifications every time you purchase new tags we recommend you complete the Innovasea Authorization form and return to your Node Manager.
Can I provide instrument data from any vendor?
Yes! ACT supports the use of all vendors. If the tools do not exist to support this information in the database they can be built to do so.
Can I provide non-acoustic data for archiving?
Yes! You can upload your non-acoustic satellite or environmental data to your project folder for safe-keeping. Additionally, all types of instrument metadata is supported in our metadata sheets, so you can track which acoustic receivers/tags were co-deployed with other sensors. This is important information to include in order to provide full project records. Reach out to your Node Manager if you're interested in learning how to report non-acoustic metadata and data.
My receiver collected no detections, do you still need the file?
Yes! No data is still data. Please offload the blank detection file and submit to your regional data manager. These files contain useful metadata about the initialization of each receiver and other diagnostics.
How do I report range test/sentinel tags?
Please report all range test and sentinel data - these are important to include in your project records in order to add valuable context to the dataset! Additionally, reporting your test tags will help resolve any "mystery detections" that may occur as a result of their deployment. These can be reported using the Instrument Deployment form.
How do I report active tracking or mobile detections?
Moving platform data requires a GPS track file along with your exported detection data in order to geolocate the detections.
Active tracking (e.g. VR100) - please provide the raw, geolocated detection file from the instrument (ex: .zlog), or a separate GPS trackfile if needed. Please contact Node Manager if you need assistance.
How do I report glider-collected detections?
Glider-collected data require a GPS track file, the instrument detection file, and a Moving Platform metadata sheet. Please contact your Node Manager if you need assistance.
How do I report data from Transceivers attached to animals? (e.g. VMT)
Moving platform data requires a GPS track file along with your exported detection data in order to geolocate the detections. If you are attaching a transceiver (like a VMT) to an animal, you will need to fill out metadata to register both (1) the transmitter placed on the animal and (2) the moving receiver placed on the animal. For this reason, the following types of data are required for submission:
1. Tagging Metadata template
2. Moving Platform template
3. GPS tracks with a PLATFORM_ID that matches the moving receiver metadata which show the animal's location over time
4. Raw detection data files (if you recovered the transceiver or if it was transmitting live)
5. CSV files of detections with the same headers as normal VMT detections (if you have satellite-transmitted data)
Please contact your Node Manager if you need assistance.
Metadata Tips and Tricks
I am tagging animals - what information do I need to record?
- Datetime in UTC of when the tagged animal was released.
- Latitude and longitude in decimal degrees, showing where the animal was released.
- Information about the tag like ID, serial number, manufacturer, battery life. Most information can be found in the specifications file from the vendor.
- Information about the animal like species, measurements, etc.
- Comments/notes.
This information will be used to complete a Tagging Metadata form.
I am maintaining an array - what information do I need to record?
- Datetime in UTC of the deployment or recovery of each instrument.
- Latitude and longitude in decimal degrees for each instrument deployment or recovery.
- Station name - a mostly fixed location where equipemt is deployed.
- Instrument serial numbers for each deployment or recovery.
- Comments/notes.
This information will be used to complete a Deployment Metadata form.
Can I color-code my spreadsheet?
Yes! Color-coding does not interfere with our quality control software. However, if you need to add a legend to your color scale it must be added in a different sheet in the workbook.
Can I add extra columns to my spreadsheet?
Yes! Any extra information you'd like to record can be added as a new column, as long as it is not named the same as any of the existing columns. Please record as much information as you have collected.
I didn't record the deployment/recovery time - what happens?
Your regional data manager will add 00:00:00 as the time of deployment/recovery if not provided. Note: if detections occurred outside the times receivers were reported being in the water, they will be excluded from tag matching.
How do I handle multiple downloads per deployment?
If you are deploying a receiver which can be remotely offloaded (ex: Innovasea's VR4-UWM) then you may have multiple download dates for each deployment. You should add the most recent download date into the download datetime column in the metadata and submit all associated detection files to your regional node manager. The records from the detection files can be used to add the intermediate download dates.
If you are deploying a receiver which must be offloaded on the surface, not remotely (ex: Innovasea's VR2Tx) then you must provide a recovery date along with the download date to indicate that this instrument was removed from the water. Then it can be redeployed by entering a new line with a new deployment datetime value in the spreadsheet, even if it was redeployed at the same station 10 minutes after previous recovery.
This is to ensure we are properly capturing the listening-effort for each receiver, eliminating the time when it was not in the water.
Detection Extract FAQs
What are Detection Extract data products?
ACT and all of its partner Nodes create Detection Extracts on a semi-regular basis, approximately every 4 months, following a cross-Node coordinated detection matching event known as a Data Push. These Detection Extract files contain only the detections for the year corresponding to the suffix on the file name. See more details here.
What is a Parquet file?
A Parquet file is an open source, column-oriented data file format designed for efficient data storage and retrieval. It provides high performance compression and encoding schemes to handle complex data in bulk and is supported in many programming language and analytics tools. It is spatially-aware and can be used directly in geospatial packages and programs.
Since June 2025, ACT included a Parquet file version of each Detection Extract for use by researchers. While the CSV files will also be created, they are larger and easier to corrupt (ie: opening in Excel or similar).
My tags matched to projects in another region which seems impossible. What should I do?
Please note that we are now matching your tags to all OTN-compatible databases worldwide. This may result in biologically improbable matches across large spatial scales. If any detections we have matched to your animals should not be attributed to your animals, please let us know. There are ACT supported tools (Python: resonATe, R: glatos) which will assist with identifying false detections via filters such as the Pincock time-lag filter, distance, impossible velocities, etc. ACT can provide support to researchers learning to work with these tools.
Reporting and un-matching detections that you find to be in error will help us one day match those detections to the correct researcher. Please advise your Node Manager ASAP when you have determined a match to be incorrect.
What analysis tools can I use with my Detection Extracts?
There are ACT supported tools (Python: resonATe, R: glatos) which will assist with identifying false detections via filters such as the Pincock time-lag filter, distance, impossible velocities, etc. OTN can provide support to researchers learning to work with these tools. You can see more here https://members.oceantrack.org/data. The Ocean Tracking Network has developed a curriculum for materials that you may want to check out here - https://ocean-tracking-network.github.io/otn-workshop-base/.