Getting Started with TerraSitu

TerraSitu is a field mapping and note-taking platform designed for ecologists, archaeologists, and field survey professionals. This guide will help you get up and running.

Core Workflow

1. Create a Project - Set up your project with client details, location, and team members
2. Add Sites - Define the physical areas where fieldwork will take place
3. Create Surveys - Configure surveys with form templates and assign them to field researchers
4. Push to Devices - Sync survey packages to mobile devices for offline use
5. Collect Data - Use the mobile app to capture observations, photos, and GPS data in the field
6. Review & Report - Back in the office, review collected data, run QA checks, and generate reports

Your First Project

To create your first project:

1. Navigate to Projects in the sidebar
2. Click New Project
3. Fill in the project details — name, client, start date, and project timezone
4. Add sites by clicking Add Site on the project detail page
5. Create surveys within each site

Understanding Your Dashboard

When you log in, the dashboard gives you a full picture of your organisation at a glance. Here's what each section shows:

• Hero stats — Active projects, active surveys, observations logged this month, and pending sync count. A pending sync count in amber means field devices have data waiting to upload.
• Field Trips — Current and upcoming trips with status, destination, personnel count, and the trip lead. Click any trip to view full logistics, contacts, and schedule.
• Project Progress — Your active and in-planning projects with timeline progress bars and status badges. The progress bar fills based on elapsed time between start and end date.
• Billable Hours — This month's time summary showing billable vs non-billable hours and total cost, visualised as a donut chart.
• Notifications — Unread notifications from across the platform. Use the "Mark all read" button to clear them at once.
• OHS Alerts — Recent safety incidents across all projects, colour-coded by severity (red for Critical, amber for Major/Moderate, grey for Minor/Near Miss).
• People in Field — Team members and their sync health status, updated every 30 seconds. A red dot means the member's sync is stale and may need attention.
• Team on the Map — Live locations of team members who have enabled location sharing in the mobile app. Click "Full view" to open the interactive team monitor.

Key Concepts

• Customer - Your client organisation. Projects are grouped under customers.
• Project - A body of work for a client, containing sites and surveys.
• Site - A physical location where fieldwork occurs. Has boundary data and GIS layers.
• Survey - A specific data collection activity within a site. Has form templates and can be assigned to team members.
• Observation - A single data point collected in the field — text, photos, GPS coordinates, and structured form data.

Signing in

You can sign in to TerraSitu with your email and password. If your organisation has Single Sign-On (SSO) configured, you may also see a "Sign in with [Provider]" button (e.g., "Sign in with Microsoft Entra ID") — this lets you authenticate through your organisation's identity system instead. See Signing in with SSO for details.

Next Steps

• Creating a Project - Detailed project setup guide
• Submitting Observations - How field data collection works
• Generating Reports - Creating reports from your data