EnviroHub Guide
EnviroHub is a web map for environmental monitoring data: springs, weather stations and other measuring points, the readings they record over time, and any extra map layers you want to show alongside them. One installation can host several separate projects, each living at its own web address.
Projects
EnviroHub can run more than one project at the same time. Each project keeps
its own monitoring points, readings, formulas and map layers, and the data in
one project never appears in another. Every project has its own address, for
example reservacqua.envirohub.it.
If you go to the main address (envirohub.it) you'll see the list
of available projects. Pick one to open its map. That's the normal starting
point for a visitor.
Browsing a project
Opening a project puts you in Viewer mode, which is open to everyone and needs no account. You can pan and zoom the map and switch the background between OpenStreetMap, Satellite and Topographic. The panel on the left lists the kinds of monitoring point in the project, and you can turn each type on or off. Click any point to open its details and see its latest values and charts, and choose the time range you want to look at.
If the project has extra layers (raster images, vector shapes, or layers from external map services), you can switch those on too, show their legend, and where the service allows it, use the info button to read a feature's details.
Signing in
To change anything you have to log in. Click the lock button 🔒 Unlock at the top right and enter your username and password. The editing tools stay hidden until you're signed in, and every change is checked on the server, so permissions can't be worked around from the browser. Once you're in, the same button becomes Log out.
Forgotten your password? Use the Forgot password? link on the login box and a reset link is emailed to you. Your current password keeps working until you actually open that link and set a new one.
Accounts come in two levels. A project administrator can edit the projects they've been assigned to. A superuser can do everything: create projects, manage the administrator accounts, and decide who works on which project.
Managing projects
If you're a superuser you'll see a gear menu (⚙) in the top bar. Open it and choose Projects. From there you can create a new project by giving it a short slug (which becomes its web address) and a name, edit a project's name and description, switch a project off or back on, and add or remove its administrators. A new project is reachable at its address as soon as you create it.
The same gear menu has Users, where the owner creates administrator accounts. Each new administrator sets their own password through a one-time link, so passwords are never sent by email.
Adding monitoring points
For a single point, use Add Point: give it a name, choose its type, and either type the coordinates or click Pick on map and click the spot. To add many at once, use Import Points, which has three tabs — a plain CSV with one row per point, a "Station + Data" file that creates a station and loads its readings in one go, and a Spatial file tab that accepts GeoJSON, zipped Shapefiles, GeoPackage and KML. Everything you import is added to the project you're working in.
Import templates
Each import option has a button to download a template so you start from the right columns. The monitoring-points template has one row per point with its name, latitude, longitude, type and any optional extra information. The Station + Data template holds one station together with its readings. The bulk template shows the layout for loading several stations and parameters in a single file.
Uploading readings
Use Upload CSV. The point list is grouped by type. Quick Upload is set up for Hydras 3 files and Regione Valle d'Aosta files: Hydras files without headers can use the channel number in the file name, and VDA files are read from their header information. For any other file, Guided Upload lets you point out the timestamp column and the value columns yourself.
What each station measures
Alpine spring
| Channel | Key | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | level_m | Water level (m) |
| 2 | temp_c | Water temperature (°C) |
| 4 | conductivity | Electrical conductivity |
| 5 | flow_rate_q | Flow rate (Q) |
Channel 3 is the battery voltage from the Hydras 3 logger, so it isn't stored as a scientific variable.
There are two ways to get flow rate into the system. You can upload Hydras
file 5 directly, or define a level-to-flow equation from the spring's detail
panel (Q Formula). Formulas use X1 for water
level and accept decimal commas, ^ for powers, SIN
and COS. Calculated Q values are marked "estimated", and if both
a Hydras file 5 and a formula exist for the same spring, the measured Hydras
values take priority where the timestamps overlap.
Weather station
Weather stations track temperature, humidity, rainfall, snow depth
(snow_depth_cm), wind speed and direction, pressure, and solar
radiation (solar_rad_wm2, in W/m²). Rainfall is drawn as
bars (totals per interval) with a cumulative line over the period you select.
Extra map layers
Administrators can add three kinds of layer, and each project keeps its own. Raster layers are GeoTIFF images, such as a digital terrain model. Vector layers are shapes you draw on the map or upload from a file. External WMS layers come from other map services: click Load layers to read what the service offers and pick one. Once it's saved, anyone viewing the project can switch it on, show its legend, and use the info button to query it. On the public site these services must use HTTPS, and not all of them publish a legend or feature information.
Cleaning and analysing data
Open a point and its panel has tools for resampling, smoothing, filling gaps, fitting a trend line, computing yearly statistics, and finding outliers. Deleting outliers or a date range updates the chart straight away. Spatial interpolation and drawing are also for administrators only; interpolation uses whichever stations have data in the period you choose.
About
EnviroHub was developed by Fermin Maggi at the Politecnico di Torino (DIATI) as part of a thesis project, supervised by Paolo Dabove with Martina Gizzi as co-supervisor. The platform is open source.