Step 2: What information should be recorded?

GBIF recommends structuring camera trap data so that it can eventually be represented using Camtrap DP.

At minimum, every deployment needs to answer:

1. Which Monitoring Session does it belong to?
2. Which deployment is this?
3. Where was the camera?
4. When was it operating?
5. Which camera was used?
6. How was the camera configured and positioned?

For example:

monitoringSessionID: MS01
deploymentID: MS01-LC1
cameraID: LC1
locationName: Creek Crossing
deploymentStart: 2026-05-14
deploymentEnd: 2026-06-18

Camtrap DP deployment fields

The table below summarizes the current Camtrap DP fields for deployments, which are also recommended by GBIF and this guide.

Fields marked Required are required by the Camtrap DP standard. The others are optional in the standard but may still be very important for your project.

Field	Required	What it records
deploymentID	✅	Unique identifier for this deployment
locationID		Stable identifier for the camera location/site
locationName		Human-readable name for the location
latitude	✅	Latitude in WGS84 decimal degrees
longitude	✅	Longitude in WGS84 decimal degrees
coordinateUncertainty		Estimated uncertainty of the coordinates in meters
deploymentStart	✅	Date and time the deployment began
deploymentEnd	✅	Date and time the deployment ended
setupBy		Person or team that deployed the camera
cameraID		Identifier for the physical camera
cameraModel		Camera manufacturer and model
cameraDelay		Delay before another trigger can occur, in seconds
cameraHeight		Camera height above ground, in meters
cameraDepth		Camera depth below the surface for underwater deployments
cameraTilt		Vertical orientation from −90° downward to +90° upward
cameraHeading		Horizontal direction from 0–360°, clockwise from north
detectionDistance		Maximum reliable detection distance, in meters
timestampIssues		Whether image/video timestamps have known problems
baitUse		Whether bait or lure was used
featureType		Feature associated with the deployment, such as trail, road, water source, burrow, or fruiting tree
habitat		Short description or category for habitat
deploymentGroups		Spatial, temporal, or other deployment groupings
deploymentTags		Additional structured or unstructured tags
deploymentComments		Other notes about the deployment

See the Camtrap DP deployment schema for the complete definitions and allowed values.

Additional recommended fields

Camtrap DP does not include every field that is useful for managing camera trap projects in the field. This guide also recommends recording the following.

When you later publish data as Camtrap DP, monitoringSessionID can be stored in deploymentGroups. SD card IDs and extra location notes can be stored in deploymentTags or deploymentComments.

Field	What it records
monitoringSessionID	Identifier of the Monitoring Session this deployment belongs to, such as MS01
sdCardIDInserted	Identifier of the SD card installed in the camera at deployment or during a maintenance visit
sdCardIDRetrieved	Identifier of the SD card removed from the camera during maintenance or retrieval
otherLocationInformation	Extra site details not captured by locationName or habitat, such as position above a stream or along a particular trail
cameraStillThere	Whether the camera was still at the site when the team arrived for maintenance or retrieval
cameraDamaged	Whether the camera was damaged
cameraWorking	Whether the camera was still functioning when the team arrived

🌐 Coordinates are especially important

Always record the coordinates of the actual camera location when possible.

Coordinates should preferably include:

• Latitude
• Longitude
• Coordinate accuracy/uncertainty
• The coordinate reference system, normally WGS84

Phones and GPS receivers can provide an estimate of location accuracy, and tools such as CoMapeo, KoboToolbox, and ODK can capture this automatically.