On this page you will find some guidelines to resolving common issues relating to bat acoustic surveys and how to prepare and submit data for analysis.
More issues will be covered over time, so please re-visit regularly to keep up-to-date on evolving issues.
We'll also publish occasional updates on significant issues in our News pages.
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How do I submit bat call data to Balance! Environmental for analysis?
It depends on the total size of the data set that you need analysed. Small data sets - up to 10MB - can be attached to an email (preferably compressed into a single "ZIP" file), using the link below. Data sets up to 250MB can be transferred via "cloud" services if you have good upload speeds. Contact us to arrange transfer via our DropBox account. Larger data sets - >250MB - should be saved to a USB flash-drive or other device and sent via Post to the address shown on our Contacts page. Please use a padded bag or wrap your device in bubble-wrap as we take no responsibility for devices damaged in the post. We will return your device once analysis is complete.
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What data formats does Balance! Environmental accept for bat call analysis?
We accept all common data formats recorded by popular bat detectors used in Australia, including: zero-crossing analysis data (files typically have extensions of .zca, .zc and .**#); full-spectrum data (typically in wave format, or .wav files); and the compressed audio files generated by some of the Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter detectors (file extension .wac).
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What files should I submit for bat call analysis?
As a minimum, you should send all the audio files downloaded from your detector/s (see the question on data formats, above) from your chosen survey period. It is also advisable to send accompanying data, such as "log" and "status" files (often in .csv or .txt format). These files carry information that can help troubleshoot detector failures or missing data, as well as a back-up source of information on survey dates and times and, in some cases GPS coordinates for sites.
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I have lots of files with strange, long names. How do I know I'm sending the right files?
The detector systems most commonly used in Australia all save date and time metadata into the file-names of all acoustic files and, usually, any other associated files. So, provided your detector settings are correct and the detector-clock and/or on-board GPS are functioning properly, you should be readily able to see what files belong to your survey. Some example filename formats for audio files include: ********_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.WAV (Song Meter and Echo Meter); *MDDHHMM.SS# (Anabat call sequence files); SN****** YYYY-MM-DD.ZCA (Anabat Express daily raw data files); and YYY-MM-DD HH-MM-SS.wav (Anabat Swift). If in doubt, just send everything that you download from the detector.