Data in NatureCounts are sorted by project and dataset. A project is any initiative that collects data, while a dataset is a collection of data generated by a project. Some projects produce only a single dataset, while others produce several. For example, there are five datasets associated with the third Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas:
- Checklist Data
- Species at Risk Data
- Highest Breeding Evidence per Square Data
- Point Count Data
- Special Survey Data
Projects may use multiple datasets to separate data collected using different methodologies, or to assign a more restrictive level of access to sensitive data. It is important to understand this, as downloading only the Checklist Data from the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas would exclude all data pertaining to species at risk, which may be of particular importance to your work.
Photo: Angela Mercurio
You can explore the available datasets and sort them by project on the Datasets page of the NatureCounts website or in the Download Data tool, both of which will be covered in more detail in Module 4 of this curriculum.
This is the last page of Module 1. To continue learning about NatureCounts, you can return to the NatureCounts Post-secondary Curriculum.
