Configuring your site

Indicia warehouse  settings

Here are the settings that appear at: .../admin/config/iform/settings 

The first part of the settings make sure that your biological recording website can connect to the relevant space in the BRC warehouse. You will receive the information to enter into this part of the settings from BRC. The indicia website ID will be unique to your organisation, so for example, Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust’s website ID is 119. 

The theme we are using is a Bootstrap 3 theme so select ‘Bootstrap 3 optimised output’. This setting is related to how the page is displayed.

Setting up the default map position for users of your recording site

This can be done in the ‘Map Settings’ part of the settings found at https://record.wildsheffield.com/admin/config/iform/settings 

Simply move the map to an area you want to be your default position. Make sure this encompasses the primary area you expect your records to be coming from.

Setting up API keys for accessing mapping services such as google maps 

[DEFUNCT: we don't need API keys any more as we use open mapping layers]

Whether the site is hosted in the main WT Drupal site or on Clook, you will need to get a Google API key and Google Maps API key. API stands for application programming interface and is a standard way of websites transmitting data to each other. In this case we are using the Google API for names of places in the map and Google Maps API for the satellite map tiles. In order to use the google map layers in the explore functionality of Nature counts you need to get a Google Maps API key.

You will need to enter the API key into this box in the Indicia settings found at: .../admin/config/iform/settings 

Getting a Bing API key 

You may not need a Bing API key - this is useful as an alternative to Google Maps should you ever need it, for example if you have trouble setting up billing for Google maps. You can find further information here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/bingmaps/getting-started/bing-maps-dev-center-help/getting-a-bing-maps-key 

The limit on free use of Bing maps is 125,000 interactions per calendar year (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/maps/licensing/licensing-options). This is way beyond what we expect our sites to be using. 

4. Log in with a Microsoft account. You will probably want to use a microsoft account that is associated with your work email address - rather than a personal Microsoft account. If you do not already have a Microsoft account then you can click on ‘Create One!’. 

5. Once you’re logged in to the Bing maps, click on ‘My account’ then click on ‘My Keys’:

At the top of the page is the option to create a new key: 


Fill out the box to create a new key. Application name is the name of your website. You can leave the application URL empty. Key type is ‘Basic’. Application type is ‘Website’: 

After pressing Create your key should appear in the list of keys on https://www.bingmapsportal.com/Application 

Click on ‘Show key’ then copy and paste the string of text that appears into the Bing API key section in the Indicia settings.