Help · Darwin Core Archive
How to download a Darwin Core Archive
A Darwin Core Archive is a ZIP of biodiversity tables. This page walks through every click, in everyday language, including a sample file you can open on your computer.
Click by click
- 1
Know what you are downloading
A Darwin Core Archive is a ZIP of simple text tables. Think of it as a shared spreadsheet language for “what was seen, where, and when”, plus the photos. It is not a PDF report.
- 2
Finish the three-person check first
A field agent captures the visit. An ecologist reviews it. An auditor locks it. Unlocked or draft visits are left out of the ZIP.
- 3
Sign in as an ecologist or auditor
Use the office login. Field agents can capture records but cannot export this ZIP.
- 4
Open Field evidence
After sign-in, go to Field evidence (Research → Evidence). That is the office desk for reviewed records.
- 5
Find Darwin Core Archive
Scroll to the Darwin Core Archive panel. Pick the site. Click Download Darwin Core Archive (ZIP).
- 6
Unzip and open the tables
Open occurrence.txt in Excel or Google Sheets. Columns are separated by tabs, not commas. event.txt is the visit. multimedia.txt is the photos and their fingerprints.
New to the whole product? Start with remote onboarding. Live export login: Sign in and open Field evidence.
Practice on a sample ZIP
No password needed. This is the same compiler as a live site export, with demonstration rows (an oak, and a sensitive species whose map pin is rounded to 1 km). The filename starts with SAMPLE.
Darwin Core Archive
Practice download. This button uses the same compiler as a live export, but the ZIP is labelled SAMPLE demonstration data — not a live site.
This is not a biodiversity credit, not a TNFD filing, and it does not publish data to GBIF.
- Pick the site (only locked, reviewed records go in).
- Click download. Your browser saves a ZIP.
- Unzip it. Open occurrence.txt — columns are tab-separated, not commas.
What each file is, in plain English
- event.txt
- Each visit: date, map pin, GPS accuracy, survey method.
- occurrence.txt
- What was seen: species name if identified, “a human saw this”, how sure we are.
- multimedia.txt
- Photos for each visit, with a SHA-256 fingerprint.
- meta.xml
- Packing list for software. Most people can skip this file.
- eml.xml
- Cover sheet: title, rights holder, CC-BY 4.0 licence.
- READ_ME_LAYMAN.txt
- Plain-English notes. Included in the sample ZIP only, so you can learn the format.
What this export is not
- Not a biodiversity credit, and not a promise that a credit will be issued.
- Not a TNFD report you can file as-is.
- Not publication to GBIF. It is the file format GBIF tools understand.
- Not every record on the site — only approved and locked visits.