Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Is there any way to put together a sequence of images from one camera?

  • dms246 by dms246 moderator

    Sometimes we see something in a photo and would like to see what happened before or after that particular image, or put together a sequence over time that includes the image we're currently viewing. Unfortunately, the way the system is put together, there's no easy way of doing that. It is possible, but the only way we've found is an exercise in patience, and trial and error. 😕

    When you click on an image link in these forums, or on the "Discuss" button after classifying an image, that takes you to the image's own page, and shows the image ID immediately above the image. That page has a URL that ends with the image ID. For example, the image with ID ASG000eb01 has the URL http://talk.snapshotserengeti.org/#/subjects/ ASG000eb01.

    What you can do is start changing the last two characters of the URL in sequence, using the 9 numerical digits and the 26 letters:

    00, 01, 02 ... 09, 0a, 0b ... 0x, 0y, 0z, 10, 11, 12 ... 1x, 1y, 1z ... etc through to ... z0, z1, z2 ... zx, zy, zz

    The images are in no particular sequence, but the likelihood is that they'll be from the same camera. As you view each one, you can see the date and time it was taken (displayed below the image), so you can hunt this way for others taken by the same camera prior to or following the original image. If you want to keep any of them, just collect them into a collection as you go.

    It's a somewhat laborious process I'm afraid, so probably only worthwhile if there's something you really really want to track down or a sequence that is really worthwhile spending time putting together. 😃

    Posted

  • MGHogue by MGHogue

    If you are really into computers and databases, here's a hint to make this simple:

    Take the URL with the "base sequence) (image #), put it in Excel (or similiar) - and use the "Autofill" to give you a "range" of URL's which you can then "click" on - and if you put in the number-alpha sequence right, it will give those ranges as well. Or use the Function tools to "merge" the base URL and the 00a,00b ... 00aa,00zz addresses to give you the ranges, then 'merge' . . .

    tips from an old pro . . .

    Posted

  • janrou by janrou

    @MGHogue: How will you sort the links in capture time?

    Posted

  • hayvel by hayvel

    It doesn't work for season 7 :
    ASG00125am - ASG00125an , not the same date/hour/place ... 😦

    Posted

  • areinders by areinders moderator

    Yes, I noticed that, too. You can still change the last letter/number and get images from the same camera but they are not in order. If you look through a range you can get lucky and find the next in sequence. But I miss the option to just go back an forth in time easily - I really learned a lot by doing that.

    Posted

  • mistyfriday by mistyfriday

    yes, I miss that also. You could maybe find more of an animal that just the ear, or shoulder had been showing. Also find out how long those cats nap in front of the camera. 😭

    Posted

  • aliburchard by aliburchard scientist, translator

    @mistyfriday @areinders @hayvel -- sorry this is more than a bit delayed, but I feel your pain on not being able to query images by date/time/location and piece together sequences. It's a functionality that we at the Zooniverse would really like to be able to add. There's a good chance that we'll be able to make progress on that in the next year -- so stay tuned 😃

    Posted

  • sisige by sisige

    Hi Ali,

    Great to have you as part of the Zooniverse insider team. 😃

    While they are working on that, one additional feature they could consider incorporating is a Next/Previous set of links on the image talk page. If the images are numbered in sequence, then whatever image you are on they should be able to increment/decrement (is that a word?) the image number and create links automatically. That way, on the talk page, users could just click the Next link repeatedly to move through the sequence, instead of having to edit the URL each time. That would even be helpful if they aren't able to put the images in time sequence with the image numbering, because it would be way faster to search through several dozen images to find ones on the same day by clicking the Next/Previous links.

    Just my two cents. 😃

    S.

    Posted

  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator in response to aliburchard's comment.

    Any chance this will be feasible during the next season? Over at Gorongosa it is very easy to look at long, long sequences from the same camera just by incrementally adjusting the URL, so it ought to be possible here too - ? It really is a help for many situations where you only see a small or blurred part of the animal.

    Posted