Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions and answers about Oregon iMapInvasives. For guides to specific uses of the site, training information, or other specific resources, please see the Guides and Resources section.

What is iMapInvasives?

iMapInvasives is an online, GIS-based invasive species reporting and querying tool developed through a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, NatureServe, the New York Natural Heritage Program, and Florida Natural Areas Inventory, with many other collaborators. It is focused on the need for land managers, regional planners, and others who are working to prevent, control or manage invasive species to have locational information for where invasives are found. iMap also places an emphasis on developing functionality to aid in early detection, rapid response efforts.

How does iMapInvasives fit in with other invasive species tracking systems in Oregon?

iMapInvasives collaborates with the Oregon Department of Agriculture's WeedMapper and the Oregon Invasive Species Hotline. Data is shared between these systems periodically. Each system has a different focus and audience.

ODA WeedMapper tracks Oregon's A and B listed noxious weeds, and uses this information to model distributions and impacts.

Oregon Invasive Species Hotline provides an easy way for the public to report and ask questions about invasive species sightings. Reporters do not have to know the identification of a species to make a report. These reports are answered by a network of invasive species experts across Oregon who can make management recommendations or respond to high priority sightings.

iMapInvasives is an international partnership that tracks a wide range of invasive species including terrestrial and aquatic plants and animals. In addition to observation points, iMap manages survey and treatment areas and outcomes. Oregon iMapInvasives acts as a clearinghouse for invasive species data by aggregating these data from a wide range of sources for hundreds of invasive species.

If I submit data to ODA's WeedMapper, do I also need to submit it to iMapInvasives?

ODA periodically sends WeedMapper data to iMapInvasives to incorporate, but there can be a long lag time. It's up to you if you'd also like to directly share with iMap. If you track any invasive species that are not on WeedMapper (i.e., plants not on the ODA A or B lists), have data for animals or insects, have polygon data, negative sightings, survey or treatment data, please get in touch with the Oregon iMap data administrator at imapinvasivesoregon[at]gmail.com as we would love to host this data on iMap.

What species are included on iMapInvasives?

Oregon iMapInvasives tracks non-native plants, animals, and insects that are or could become invasive species in Oregon, or are being managed or tracked by our data partners. The initial list was developed by including species on the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s List A and List B noxious weed lists, the Oregon Invasive Species Council’s 100 Worst Invaders, noxious weeds listed in neighboring states, and any species that our partner agencies are tracking. The list will continue to grow as new species are recommended. We review each species before adding to the list to make sure they are not nuisance native species and that the taxonomy is correct (taxonomy follows NatureServe’s standards). You can view the tracked species from the drop-down lists on the iMapInvasives login map, from the Species List page on this website, or from the Checklist of our iNaturalist Project.

Why can I view and create records for a species in some places but not others?

iMapInvasives allows for each participating jurisdiction to curate its own list of tracked invasive species. Some species are native to one part of the iMapInvasives Network but invasive in others, such as the American Bullfrog, which is native to the southeast US but is invasive in Oregon and other western states. See http://www.imapinvasives.org/faq-visible-species for more information.

Why can't I see point locations on the iMapInvasives map?

To minimize draw times, points and polygons will not display until you zoom in on the map. When zoomed out to smaller scales, presence records are generalized to hexagons so data will draw faster. See http://www.imapinvasives.org/public-map for more information. 

What can I do without an iMapInvasives login?

The Public Map is open to all, without a login account. This is the “general public” user level, for casual users of the site who are curious about invasive species but don't need to or don't want to create an account. The public map only displays a subset of the information available to logged in users, but it is a quick way to view species distributions.

Many functionalities of iMapInvasives are not accessible without a login. Sign up for free!

How do I load my agency data into iMapInvasives?

You can submit your existing data to the iMap Data Administrator for bulk upload into iMapInvasvies. Please see the Submitting Data page for more information.

How do I report an invasive species sighting?

If you plan to make many invasive species reports, want to report negative sightings where you looked for an invasive species but did not find it, or will be recording treatment information, sign up for iMapInvasives! User accounts are free. Help on using iMapInvasives can be found at http://www.imapinvasives.org/help. 

If you only need to report a few sightings, do not know the species name of what you're reporting, or do not want to create an iMapInvasives account, you can report your sighting to the Oregon Invasive Species Hotline. These reports are incorporated into the iMapInvasives site periodically. If you will be reporting many observations, have detailed information you'd like to manage, or would like to view distributions for invasive species throughout Oregon, you would be better served by using iMapInvasives.

If you are an iNaturalist user, you can join the Oregon iMapInvasives iNaturalist project. These sightings are periodically imported to iMapInvasives. If you have found something concerning, please use the Oregon Invasive Species Hotline as this is the fastest way to get your sighting reviewed by an on-the-ground manager.

How do we know if an invasive species observation on iMapInvasives is “good”? What is the quality-check process?

When any user creates a new species observation using the online interface (rather than through a bulk upload sent to ORBIC), that point will be mapped as “Unconfirmed”. The general public (those without a login) will not be able to see these points. Logged-in users will be able to see them, but they will be clearly labeled as unconfirmed.

These points will remain labeled as “unconfirmed” until a Data Administrator or Confirmer reviews them and concludes if they should be relabeled as “confirmed”. The online data entry system allows for submission of photos, which will be a key method for quality checking new data and new users. If a report is suspicious or unclear, we will contact the user who submitted the point for more information.

Data that is sent to iMap by partner agencies and other natural resource managers and is bulk uploaded into Oregon iMapInvasives is assumed to have been quality checked by those agencies and will be part of the "confirmed" dataset.

iMapInvasives users are welcome to contact Oregon iMapInvasives if they believe a species observation may be incorrect.

What type of data is stored in iMapInvasives?

Several types of invasive species data can be managed in iMapInvasives. The most common is the presence record (a.k.a. observation), which records the "who, what, when, where" of a species sighting. More detailed information including habitat, weather, and disturbances can also be recorded. Several types of treatments and their outcomes can also be stored in iMapInvasives. Here is a handy guide: Data Types in iMap 3.