The Jaguar Observations Database is a useful tool for searching and viewing observation data. You may also export data to view or analyze offline. Next to the “Change Search Criteria” button is the “Export” button. Clicking this button will download a compressed folder containing files related to the observations you see in the table.
The file will download into the default download location specified in your web browser’s settings. The downloaded folder contains three files: criteria.txt, metadata.txt, and observations.csv. The two .txt files can be opened using any text editor software, such as Notepad, while observations.csv can be opened in a spreadsheet viewing software, such as Microsoft Excel.
The metadata.txt file contains general information about the data, including general rules for interpreting information in the observations.csv file. Criteria.txt contains a list of the search criteria used to select the observations included in observations.csv.
The observations.csv file contains tabular data on jaguar observations. This table matches the table on jaguardata.info at the time the file was downloaded. The file contains fields that describe the observation, including event ID, observation name, data, date type, observation type, and so forth. For the full description of these fields and what each type means, see the References section on Jaguardata.info.
A notable difference between the data shown in the observations.csv and online is the spatial visualization of the data. Whereas the site maps all observations for you, the spreadsheet contains latitude and longitude coordinates for point observations and the names of areas for polygon observations.
You can map point observations using software such as Google Maps (help), Google Earth (help), QGIS (help), ArcGIS (tutorial), or others. The names of the polygon areas (or "record areas") are specific enough to be found online using a mapping service such as Google Maps.