As well as being a beautiful backdrop in the zoo, plants play a vital role in creating natural enclosures, participating in educational programs, supporting animal nutrition and enrichment, and contributing to species conservation efforts. Zoos and aquariums often face challenges when it comes to botanical record-keeping, normally caused by inadequate record-keeping tools and a lack of resources.
In our recent webinar, we examined these issues and also touched on the four pillars of healthy plant records: taxonomy, inventory gap, provenance, and plant identification. With reliable data, you too can make informed decisions within your institution and give your plant collection greater potential to contribute to a broader context, locally and globally.
Getting started with plant records may seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. With little training, you can quickly and easily build up a fully digitized, mapped, and photographed collection. Hortis is thoughtfully designed to run smoothly on mobile, tablet and PC, making record-keeping a breeze.
During our webinar, delegates were asked to participate in live polls, and we thank everyone for their engagement during the session.
Whether you're just starting or looking to migrate your existing plant records, we are here to assist you every step of the way and look forward to welcoming more of you on board soon.
Yes, we help transfer your data to ensure a seamless onboarding experience. There may be a cost for data transfer, dependent on the size and complexity of your dataset. If you would like to discuss your transfer requirements, feel free to get in touch.
Yes, plant materials can be tracked as individuals or as a group, depending on the desired level of detail you have for mapping and tracking your collection.
The map coordinates themselves are very precise, offering sub-centimeter precision. However, the precision of coordinates provided by a GPS/GNSS device highly depends on the quality of the equipment and how many obstructions you might have between the device and the satellites. A consumer smartphone often performs poorly in a garden with tree canopies and buildings, reducing the signal quality. In cases like this, using buildings and other plants as reference points for your mapping is often much more efficient and can provide sufficient accuracy. If survey grade accuracy is required, you can use high-precision GPS/GNSS devices that you can connect via Bluetooth or USB.
Currently, an offline version or the ability to load data offline and then update it is unavailable. However, it's on the roadmap for development in 2025.
You can be as flexible as you need with entering data in Hortis. While some fields are mandatory, many are not, making the platform very permissive. The integration with IUCN and Plants of the World Online automatically provides Global Red List status and other factual taxonomic data when you select a scientific name.
There is value in the cross-over between plant and animal management, and we will have many opportunities to explore this together, including potential integrations between Hortis and ZIMS. We will look at these options over the course of our roadmap based on the feedback we get from the community.
Currently, it's not possible to upload documents like a biological materials agreement to accompany a record in Hortis. However, this feature is on our short-term roadmap and should be available in the next 3 to 6 months.
Yes, you can download a filtered subset of your data as a CSV (or the entire dataset). This functionality is available for Accessions, Plant Materials, or Taxa. It is always accessible, even for read-only users.
With our upcoming collection portal, you will be able to share their collection with other zoos and the wider community. We also have other collaborative features on our roadmap to allow institutions to collaborate more directly with each other.
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