(monitoring_locations)=
# Getting Started with EnviroData
## Introduction
Welcome to EnviroData! Let's get started by going through an example. We'll walk
through the basics of using monitoring stations in this
tutorial.
```{admonition} Summary: Getting Started with EnviroData
* The landing page provides an overview of monitoring locations and latest import events
* Customize monitoring location summary pages to display relevant information
* Use the sample analyses tab to access station data and quickly generate graphs or download excel reports
* Use filters to specify date range, media type, and analyte selection when accessing data
* Compare analyte concentrations with guideline standards
* Use the tabular view to monitor data, add flags or change other metadata values
```
---
## First Steps
Your first step is logging in. Navigate to the [EnviroData Login
Page](https://www.envirodata.hatfieldgroup.com/) and enter the credentials for
the Hatfield Demo account that were provided to you.
Once you've done this, you'll be redirected to the EnviroData landing page. This
page provides you with an overview of some important items.
Take a moment to look over the UI and familiarize yourself. We'll dive into the
details of each of these as we go through the tutorials.
**1)** **Station Map** - Interactive map of monitoring locations.
**2)** **Monitoring Locations Table** - A list of active monitoring locations.
**3)** **Latest Imports Table** - A list of the most recent import events, indicating
the number of new results, stations, analytes, and media types added to the
database.
**4)** **Side Panel** - Links to the various pages of EnviroData. There's a lot
here! For now, you should just know that the top portion contains links to
various management pages, while the sections below this contain links to
Continuous Data Stations, Discrete Sample Stations, and any other stations containined in your account.
**5)** **Station search bar** - Quickly access a station by name.
**6)** **Username** - Click here to log out of EnviroData.
Let's begin exploring EnviroData by taking a look at one of its most fundamental features:
monitoring locations.
---
## Monitoring Locations
EnviroData groups all data and information related to a
single spot into **monitoring locations** (also called stations). Monitoring locations are
categorized based on their data's sample media (e.g., drinking water vs process
water) and whether the data type is discrete or continuous. In this tutorial
we'll focus on discrete monitoring locations, but know that much of what you'll learn applies
to continuous data monitoring locations as well.
Move your cursor over the **station map** and zoom in on the blue markers. Click
on the blue marker that says SW7. A tooltip will appear telling you that this
station has discrete data of surface water samples. Click the *View Location*
link to travel to the monitoring station's summary page.
Each monitoring location has its own
summary page where you can view related information, access data, and perform
basic QA/QC procedures. Take a moment to become familar with the
various components. The image below should help.
The summary page provides us with an overview of the station.
According to the description provided in the *Information* card, this
monitoring location is a compliance point south of the discharge. Above the
*Information* card, we see more info icons stating that this station has 6,515
measurements for 140 analytes dating back to May 16, 2017.
You can add as much information as
you'd like to the *Information* card (8). For example, use the map to
determine the station's elevation by unchecking the *Vis Satellite* layer
(if you're in a rush: the elevation is ~1500m). Armed with more info, click the orange *EDIT LOCATION*
button (9)
in the lower left-hand side of the page. Then click the green *+ADD* button on the
*Information* card. A modal will appear. In the *Field Name* field type
"Elevation (masl)." Then type the correct value into *Field
Value*. Finally, select "2" for the *ordinal in the list* to make it appear as
the last value in the card. When you're all done, hit *Save*.
The final piece worth pointing out on the monitoring location summary page is
the **aliases** card (10).
We'll come back to this in another tutorial, but be aware that this station
has two alias names for its data source: SW7 and SW7 R1.
For now, click on the *Sample Analyses* tab above the map and continue on to the
next section (11).
---
## Samples Analyses
Let's imagine we want to know the level of fluoride in the surface water at this
station. First, switch the **Media
Type** from Soil/Sediment to Water by clicking the radio button on the *Media Types*
card (12 in image below). This will update the *Analytes* card (13) to show only
water sample analytes. In addition to display name, the *Analytes* card shows
the date of the first
and last datapoints, as well as the total number of records. Select fluoride by
clicking the checkbox next to the "Fluoride (F)" analyte.
```{tip}
**The analytes list** is ordered alphabetically.
Either use the arrows on the lower right to scroll to fluoride, or simply
search for fluoride in the search bar.
```
Next, ensure that *Show all available data* is selected on the *Date Range*
card(14).
Once you've done this, hit the blue *Generate Graph* button.
You'll note that a maximum was observed sometime in January, 2019. Click on the
data point to view the details of this observation.
The resulting tooltip provides information about the date of analysis, the
concentration, the detection limit, the COC code for the file from which the
datapoint comes, as well as links to the **import details** and source file.
If you'd like you can click on the *Import Detail* link, but we'll explore this
page in the next tutorial.
Now imagine in addition to fluoride, you want to see what phosphorus concentrations were like over the same
time span. Clear the search bar if you used it earlier and
type phosphorus.
```{tip}
You can add up to 5 analytes at a time on discrete sample graphs.
```
Finally, let's compare the fluoride concentration to a **guideline.** For this
example, we'll compare to the Canadian Council of
Ministers of the Environment Freshwater Guidelines. To do this, click the
dropdown menu on the *Guidelines* card (15) and select CCME_FRESH. Then hit the blue *Generate
Graph* button once more. You'll see a third dashed line appear on the graph,
which represents the guideline value for fluoride.
Below is an example of what your graph should look like by now.
---
## Tabular Data
Next we'll take a look at the **tabular view** of datasets as well as some of the
actions we can perform with them. To do this, first clear out the selected
values and select Antimony (Sb)-Dissolved. Again, ensure that *Show all
available data* is selected. Then hit the *View As Tabular* button (near the
blue Generate Graph button).
The **tabular view** provides a spreadsheet of information for each selected
datapoint. EnviroData allows you to add QAQC flags to your datasets. Take a look at the **flags** column by scrolling to
the right. Note the *Flags Legend* on the left hand side of the monitor which
tells us that the DV flag means these data points have been verified and
accepted.
Next, click the DateTime column to re-order the datapoints as descending, such
that the newest datapoints are displayed at the top.
You'll note that these datapoints are marked with a P flag. This means the data is still
preliminary because it was recently imported. We'll set these values to DV now that
you've looked at them.
To do this, first hit the orange *EDIT* button at the bottom right of the spreadsheet. You
*could* select each datapoint that you want to flag individually, but a faster
way is to use the filter function. Click the
little black arrow on the Flags column title. In the *Filter by values* box
first hit *CLEAR* and then click P, then select each of the
resulting dates that are shown followed by the *UPDATE* button.
Your spreadsheet should only show data points with the P flag now. Select the
checkbox at the top of the spreadsheet to select all of these data points. On
the left side of the spreadsheet is a column named *Bulk Edit* (image below). Click the *Add
Flags* dropdown and
select DV followed by the green *ADD* button. Finally, save your work by pressing
the green *SAVE* button on the lower right-hand side of the window.
Let's switch our view to
just the past year and give those datapoints preliminary flags.
Filter by DateTime such that only measurements from 2021 appear, then add a P flag for
those records.
There's one more important bit about flags we should go over before moving on.
Filter flags to only show records marked with "DR" (data rejected). Youll note
you don't see anything. This is because we don't have our settings configured to show data hdiden by
flags. On the left side of the spreadsheet in the *Settings* box, click *show values
hidden by flags* and then filter the flags again to only show records marked
with "DR." This shows us the data that was rejected.
As a final step for this part of the tutorial, you can download the Excel Report.
Exit the tabular view and click the *Download Excel Report* button. Once it's
downloaded, take a moment to look at the spreadsheet.
Congratulations! You've finished your first EnviroData tutorial. However, this
is only the beginning of what you can do with EnviroData's rich API. In the next
tutorial, we'll begin to get a better glimpse of this by looking more in depth
at how to manage files and data.
```{seealso}
Learn how to do other tasks with discrete and continuous monitoring locations in the {ref}`monitoring location task recipes ` section of the EnviroData Cookbook
```