eBird data to Google Earth

This repository contains files and instructions for processing eBird data for a specific bird species and visualizing it in Google Earth Pro.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

Python: You need Python installed on your computer. You can download it from python.org if it's not already installed.
Google Earth Pro: Download and install Google Earth Pro from Google Earth Pro.
eBird Data: To obtain the initial data, you need to request data from eBird for a specific bird species. Visit the eBird website and follow their instructions to request the data for your species of interest.

Obtaining and Processing eBird Data

Request Data from eBird:
- Visit the eBird website and log in or create an account if you don't have one.
- Use the eBird data request tools to specify your bird species and geographic region. Request the data in the desired format (e.g., CSV).
Download and Unzip Data:
- After your data request is processed, you will receive an email with a link to download the data. Follow the link to download the data file, which is typically in ZIP format.
- Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a directory of your choice. You should find a text file (e.g., ebd.txt) that contains the eBird data for your species and region.
Run the getcoords.py file:
- When you are ready to trim all of the observations for all of the world for your species data, manually edit the coordinates in getcoords.py to have the bounding box you would like.
- Then, run this file by:
```
python getcoords.py ebd_*.txt input.txt
```
- Of course, you can use a different name than input.txt, as that is not the best name here. But it sets you up for the following.
Prepare Data for Google Earth:
- Use the provided Python script convert_csv.py to convert the ebd.txt file into a CSV file suitable for Google Earth Pro.
- Run the script using the following command, replacing input.txt with your downloaded eBird data and output.csv with the desired output file name:
```
python convert_csv.py input.txt output.csv
```
- This script will replace empty fields with null characters (\0) to represent missing data. It is suggested you change the name to match the name of the species you are uploading.

Visualizing Data in Google Earth Pro

Open Google Earth Pro:
- Launch Google Earth Pro on your computer.
Import Data:
- In Google Earth Pro, go to "File" > "Open" and select the converted CSV file (output.csv) generated in the previous step.
- Ensure that you configure the import settings correctly, specifying the delimiter (usually tab) and column assignment.
Customize Data:
- Once your data is loaded into Google Earth Pro, you can customize how the points are displayed, including icons, labels, and more.
Explore and Analyze:
- Use Google Earth Pro's features to explore and analyze the eBird data. Click on data points to view metadata associated with each observation.
Save or Share Map:
- If desired, you can save or export the map with your data in various formats, such as KML or KMZ, for sharing or further analysis.

Contributing

If you would like to contribute to this project or report issues, please open an issue or pull request on the GitHub repository.

License