Google Sites: The Best Way to View BirdTrax Gadgets

My favorite way to view a collage of personal BirdTrax gadgets is using Google Sites.

To begin, go to:
sites.google.com

1. Create a new site. Simply click "create". You can fiddle around with style all you like, but I just selected "blank template". Once you finish up on that page, you should have a new website.
2. Edit your page. Click on the pencil in the upper right area of the page.
3. Add a BirdTrax gadget. In the upper left menu bar, hover over "insert" and then click on "more gadgets...". Click on "add gadget by URL" and enter the following URL:
   
   https://storage.googleapis.com/accubirder/birdtrax.xml
   
4. Customize your gadget. Type in your settings as you so desire, and when you click OK, you'll have inserted your first BirdTrax gadget into the site.

The rest of the sites.google.com features are fairly self-explanatory. You can change your privacy settings -- by default the site is public.

Here's a sample site for you to check out:

BirdTrax Demo Dashboard

Update Your BirdTrax Embed Code

If BirdTrax is embedded on your website, it may disappear on November 1 -- You need to follow the simple instructions in this post to keep it running!!!

On November 1, iGoogle will be retired. The BirdTrax gadget is hosted on an iGoogle directory, so it may no longer be available from the current URL. But no worries, BirdTrax is now hosted on Google Code, so here's what you need to do:

Update your gadget embed code. It should look something like this:

<script src="//www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/101708404408406792358/BirdTrax.xml&amp;up_latlng=42.461381%2C%20-76.50454&amp;up_radius=15&amp;up_daysBack=30&amp;up_locName=Ithaca%2C%20NY&amp;up_districtName=&amp;up_State=Hawaii&amp;up_countryCode=US&amp;up_defaultMode=area&amp;up_defaultview=sightings&amp;up_spuhs=0&amp;up_picture=1&amp;up_hideNavMenu=1&amp;up_showhide=2&amp;up_hide2=european%20starling%2C%20house%20sparrow%2C%20rock%20pigeon&amp;synd=open&amp;w=375&amp;h=450&amp;title=BirdTrax&amp;border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&amp;output=js"></script>

You need to update the script source and its URL attribute from:

//www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/101708404408406792358/BirdTrax.xml

to:

https://t5653i60o7fjia2l6tulcflglc5fn3q0-a-sites-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/ifr?url=http://tseep.com/birdtrax.xml

If you make this simple replacement, your gadget will perform equally well (and perhaps load even faster) than before.

BirdTrax is now hosted on Google Code, a reliable and fast server which is capable of managing the steady stream of code requests from the thousands of websites which use BirdTrax.

If you are unsure how to do this, you can use the BirdTrax Website Embedder Code Generator (the output has been updated). Using the code from this tool will do the same thing as is described above, and will keep your gadget working after November 1.

I apologize for this inconvenience. Please let me know if you have any issues!

eBird Checklist Map

Yesterday I threw some code together that generates a map of all eBird checklists submitted in my area.

I haven't had time to perfect the idea yet, and I may add a few more features. In the meantime, here's how you can do this too:

Map your eBird History!

Here's an awesome new map of personal eBird checklist submissions over time from Brian Sullivan:

http://geocommons.com/maps/252746


Thanks to Jared Fischer for the idea and development work!

Here's how to do this:

BirdTrax Website Embedder

Here's a simple tool to help you embed BirdTrax on your website. Fill in the information below, then click "Get Code!" to copy the code you need to paste on your website to place the gadget. If you encounter any issues, please comment or email me.