Frequently Asked Questions
- Having problems after a rappt.io update
- How can I tell the difference between the types of rats I catch?
- Why can't new members see installations?
- Can I record ad-hoc kills on Rappt.IO?
- The Proximity alert isn’t loud enough, how can I get it louder?
- How do I use the map tools?
- Why don't the project stats on the main project map update immediately?
- Is my project data shared?
- How can I find what app version I have installed?
- What coordinate system does Rappt.IO use?
- How to bulk load tracks and traps from DNR Garmin?
- How can I enter GPS coordinates for installation locations?
- Pre- Authenticated Member
- I'm stuck, how do I get support?
- Why can’t I import data? it says I’m not using the correct file encoding.
- Starting out with rappt.io
Having problems after a rappt.io update
Rappt.IO often has updates, however, despite vigorous testing, sometimes there can be issues that are found after a release that is unexpected.
Here are the steps to take if you find that your Rappt.IO phone app is not showing as you expect it to.
2. Click on the Logs tab
This will show any records that are still in your phone. (this step is to ensure that in case of records not synching you have access to them if needed), ensure you have done this for all of the projects you have completed work in during the last week.
3. Click on the Export logs tab at the top left side of the screen
4. Click on the export your collected data and email it to yourself, then click on the export debug log and email it to yourself.
5. A pop-up will appear showing the options, if mail is not one of them, check the “more” section.
6. Once you have exported the logs to yourself, go back into the menu and click on settings
7. Then click on advanced settings.
8. Then press and hold on the Hard reset.
9. You will receive this message, ensure you have completed all of the steps a-c then click Perform reset.
The app will refresh and the projects should appear as you would expect.
If you still have issues with the app after completing these steps contact support@rappt.io
How can I tell the difference between the types of rats I catch?
Three species of rats are present in New Zealand and all of them were introduced here.
Ship and Norway rats
The ship rat (Rattus rattus) is the most commonly found rat in New Zealand and is the smaller of the two European rat species. It has a tail that is longer than its body, and ears that cover the eyes when pressed forward.
Ship rats are widespread around New Zealand on the three main islands and on many offshore islands.
The Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) is different from the ship rat in that the tail, which is about 18 cm long, is thick and shorter than the body, which is about 20 cm long, and its ear doesn't reach the eye when pressed forward.
Norway rats are more typically associated with human activity and found in urban areas but they have also existed on more than 60 offshore islands.
Kiore
Kiore is the Māori name for the Pacific or Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans). An adult kiore is approximately 4 cm shorter than an adult ship rat, but looks very similar and the two species are often confused. The tail of a kiore is shorter than the body.
How can I tell the gender of the rat I just caught?
How do I tell if I caught a mouse or a juvenile rat?
A young rat will have a much larger head in proportion to the rest of its body.
Baby rats are born with short tails and these tails remain smaller than the overall length of their bodies; baby mice are born with long tails and they keep these long tails throughout their lives. Mice tails are at least as long as their bodies, if not often double the length.
It is important to note that rat tails are also much thicker than mice tails, though this may not be evident when a baby rat is firstborn. However, as these rodents age, you will soon be able to tell the difference between them based on their tails alone.
Why can't new members see installations?
When a new member is added to a project without any permissions, they have limited access.
As a basic trapper they can:
- Add new installations
- Be assigned to existing installations
- Add and update the records for only those installations
A Project Administrator can update the new member's role to Advanced trapper to allow view only access to all installations via the website, or Manager complete access via the web and the app. If security and privacy is a concern, it is better to specifically assign installations to the trapper.
Read more about what the different roles mean and how to change members roles.
Can I record ad-hoc kills on Rappt.IO?
In the event that a pest is killed by something other than a trap (e.g. roadkill, killed by cat/dog/firearm etc.), it can be useful to record this data as part of your project.
Currently, there's no direct way of recording these in Rappt.IO, but clever folks have found a way around it.
To record ad-hoc kills on Rappt.IO
- Create a trap in your project (anywhere in your project is fine)
- Call it something like "cat" or "dog" or "firearm" or "ad-hoc" etc.
- Give it trap type "Unspecified"
- Record "catches" on that trap
If you want to record multiple kills on this trap, you can do this on the website by changing the "Strike" count field.
The Proximity alert isn’t loud enough, how can I get it louder?
If you are finding the proximity function alerts are not loud enough try these steps
1. Select Settings
2. Select sounds and vibrations
3. Select Volume
4. Here you can set the volume of your various apps, ensure “media” is set high
If this doesn’t work you can also try the following
5. Select Advanced sound settings
6. Separate App sound
7. Select the App (Rappt.IO)
8. Now select the device you are wanting the alerts to play on. For example, the alert could play through the Bluetooth in your vehicle
How do I use the map tools?
Moving around the map
- You can pan around the map by clicking and dragging anywhere on the map.
-
Use the zoom buttons (+ and -) in the top left corner to zoom in and out of the map.
Understanding the toolbar
There is a toolbar at the bottom of the map. You can see the name of each tool by hovering the mouse over the icon. The first map tool section will vary depending on what part of the website you are looking at.
Drawing a polygon
- To start drawing a shape on the map, click on the polygon tool to activate it (you will see the blue around the icon get slightly darker).
- With the polygon tool active, click on the corners of the area that you want to manage. This will define the boundaries of your trapping project.
- On the last corner, double-click to finish the drawing. The outline of the shape will complete and change to green.
Editing the polygon shape
If you didn't get the shape quite right you can change it:
- Click on the "Edit features" tool
- Now click inside the shape you drew and the outline will turn blue
- Hover the mouse over the edge of your shape and a small black circle will appear
- By clicking and dragging on the black circle you can adjust the boundary of the project
- When you are done adjusting, click the "Edit features" tool again and the outline will return to green
Starting over
If your drawing has gone wrong and you'd like to start over, you can do this at any time by clicking the "Delete features" tool.
Why don't the project stats on the main project map update immediately?
The project stats on the main project are are updated daily, not in realtime. If you have just added some data into your project, it won't show up in this stats box until the next day. If you want to check whether your records have saved, they will be saved in other areas of your project (e.g. to check if a trap record has saved, you can click on that trap, and a list of saved records will be visible at the bottom of the page).
The reason they are not updated in realtime is to improve site performance. As Rappt.IO has grown over the years, the site has become slower, and we found that updating this project stats box daily instead of in realtime improved site performance hugely.
Is my project data shared?
None of your project data is shared without your permission (please see our privacy policy). However we very much hope that you will give us permission to share summarised data from your project. Sharing summarised data from your project helps the national dataset grow and allows New Zealand to make more informed decisions about how we manage pests.
Each project has two privacy settings which are accessible by going to the My Projects page, selecting your project and then clicking "Edit":
- List this project publicly
Ticking this lists your project in the Rappt.IO directory. This allows others to find and request to join your project. The name, organisation, contact details, description, links, and location fields will be visible to the public. Personal details will remain private.
- Share summary data
Ticking this allows us to share summarised data from your project (e.g. the number of traps, catch counts, baits used, the approximate area managed etc). Information is aggregated at a 200m x 200m grid level. This makes it difficult for anyone to determine the exact of traps and stations.
Detailed trap or station information such as names, notes, photos and "recorded by" fields are not shared. Likewise, profile information such as member names and addresses are not shared. These are private to your project.
How can I find what app version I have installed?
When you're logged in to the app
It is much easier to find the app version if you can log in to the Rappt.IO app. If you are unable to log in to the app, then check out the next section to find the app version number another way.
- Select a project - the project map will load
- Tap the hamburger menu in the top right corner
- Click "About"
- The version number is listed under the "App" heading
Finding the app version on Android
It is much easier to find the app version if you can log in to the Rappt.IO app. If you are unable to log in to the app on your Android device, then you can find it by:
- Find the Rappt.IO app icon, either on your home screen or in your app drawer
- Long press on the Rappt.IO icon until a pop-up menu shows
- Click on "App info"
- Scroll down and click "App details"
- The Google Play store will open on the Rappt.IO app page
- Click on "What's new"
- Scroll down to view the "App info" section
- The version number is shown next to "Version"
Finding the app version on iOS (Apple)
What coordinate system does Rappt.IO use?
Rappt.IO uses WGS84 (EPSG 4326) projection
Helpful links
- https://epsg.io/4326
- https://www.geodesy.linz.govt.nz/concord/index.cgi?popular=1
- Convert CRS in QGIS
How to bulk load tracks and traps from DNR Garmin?
Rodney Bethel, a Senior GIS Analyst at Palmerston North City Council, has kindly provided us with a document describing how to bulk load tracks and traps into Rappt.IO.
> Loading Tracks and Bulk Loading Traps into Rappt.IO from the PC
Table of Contents
- Download DNR Garmin
- DNR Garmin Setup
- Preparing the Shapefile for conversion
- Converting Shapefile Tracks (Lines) into GPX
- Importing GPX Track file into Rappt.IO
- Preparation for “Bulk Loading” Predator Traps into Rappt.IO:
- Trap Preparation
- Create the CSV from DNR Garmin Conversion
- The Trap NZ CSV Template
- Importing CSV Trap file into Rappt IO
How can I enter GPS coordinates for installation locations?
If you have GPS coordinates, you can enter them into the Manual Coordinates box when adding an installation. Then click the “Find using manual coordinates field” button to place the location on the map before saving the installation.
Note that the coordinates must be in decimal Lat, Long:
e.g. -41.545769706106, 172.15099409223
Or in NZTM format (New Zealand Transverse Mercator):
e.g. 1763693.1614139 5459118.2077669
If the coordinates are in another format or projection you will need to convert them first.
How to convert coordinates
LINZ have a handy converter here:
https://www.geodesy.linz.govt.nz/concord/index.cgi 7
For example - If your coordinates are in Degrees Decimal Minutes (DDM) e.g:
172 03.4 E 41 20.8 S
Then you will need to convert them to Decimal Degrees (DD) first:
https://www.geodesy.linz.govt.nz/concord/index.cgi?IS=WGS84_G1762&IH=-&PN=N&IC=M&IO=EN&ID=S&OS=WGS84_G1762&OH=-&OC=D&OO=NE&OD=H&YEAR=now&OP=4&CI=Y&do_entry=Enter+coordinates&ADVANCED=1
Pre- Authenticated Member
What is a pre-authenticated member?
This is a person who has created a Rappt.IO account but has not verified their account.
To verify their account they will have to access the email address they provided when creating their account and find the email from Rappt.IO, here you will find a link you will need to verify your account.
If you can’t find your Rappt.IO verification email. They are often in your spam folder.
The administration of a project will be unable to assign any installation to pre-authenticated member.
I'm stuck, how do I get support?
If you do get stuck or have a curly one, send us a message via the contact form. Please include as much information as possible, including:
- Screenshots showing the issue you're experiencing
- Any relevant file attachments (e.g. CSV files)
- If using the app:
- What device you are using (e.g. Samsung Galaxy S10, iPhone 7)
- What OS you have running on the device (e.g. Android 12, iOS 15.3.1)
- The Rappt.IO app version number
- If using the website:
- What OS you are running (e.g. Windows 11, macOS 10.15)
- What browser you are using (e.g. Firefox, Chrome, Safari)
How to find the app version number
When you're logged in to the app:
- Select a project - the project map will load
- Tap the hamburger menu in the top right corner
- Click "About"
- The version number is listed under the "App" heading
How to find your app device information
Android
Settings > About phone
Apple / iOS
Settings > General > About
Why can’t I import data? it says I’m not using the correct file encoding.
If your CSV file is not being accepted and it says “Source file is not in UTF-8 encoding”, you may need to download it using another file code. In the case below ANSI needed to be substituted with Windows 1254
Starting out with rappt.io
a) Create a Rappt.IO account
https://rappt.io/user/register
For video help click the you tube link here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wslsQpLdKgM
Hopefully, there is an existing project close to the area you are interested in trapping. In this case, we recommend that you contact the project administrator(s) to see if you can get involved.
Go to the "Find projects" page, accessible from the "Find projects" link on the menu bar at the top of the site.
For video help, click the youtube link here https://youtu.be/CxH3axNkr78
c) Create a new project
If you'd like, you can create a new Rappt.IO project.
For video help click the you tube link here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozNCAAqJlfU
d) Rappt.IO Mobile phone app
Login to the app, select the project from the list then add your installations
For video help click the you tube link here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNuHsNTCHEQ&list=PLhb73jmTWJsnCLTq4CJXpkUmwHXpxBDAH&index=4
e) add catches using the Rappt.IO Mobile phone app
Add your catches to your project
For video help click the you tube link here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWlvEaAIyVE&list=PLhb73jmTWJsnCLTq4CJXpkUmwHXpxBDAH&index=6
If you would like more comprehensive help https://help.rappt.io/