How to get started

The BEEP platform can be used for your research project, either with your own team and/or with participation of beekeepers (i.e. citizen science), see more information on the beep.nl website. To ask BEEP to set-up you project, please use this form. 


The BEEP platform consists of two parts for data collection: the BEEP app with one or multiple checklists and the BEEP base. The checklists are used for manual data collection, the BEEP base is for automatic measurements and data collection. In your research design, you can decide if you want to use the BEEP app only or also the BEEP base. More information on the BEEP app and BEEP base are available on our website.


After doing so, it is time to setup your research. You will find all information on how to do so in this article.



Step 1: Register as a user on the BEEP app

If you have not done so yet, register yourself as a user on the BEEP app. Your research will be linked to your account and through your account you will have access to the collected data. 


Step 2: Design checklist(s)

In your research, you can make use of checklists. A checklist consists of selected items from the data categories on bee health. 


When you work with beekeepers that will collect data for you during your research, you can design one or multiple checklists for data collection. The data categories give you the possibility to systematically collect information on different aspects of bee health. Your checklist can be basic or more elaborate, depending on your needs. You can create multiple checklist. Save and name the checklist(s) and link them to your research (see step 3). 

After you create the checklists on your account, get in touch with BEEP support to link them to your research project.


Click here for more information on checklists.



Step 3: Provide research information

Your research will be visible in the BEEP app, like the example below. When you send the required research information to BEEP support, the research project will be added to the platform. 



You are now ready to start. You can email your research participants to register in the BEEP app so they can start working with your inspection sheets. There are two ways to involve participants: invite them specifically to your research (recommended) or open research i.e. anyone can participate.


In both cases, the participating beekeepers need to give their consent to share their data with you and specify the start date. This date can be changed. They can do that on the 'Research' page in the BEEP app (see menu on the right hand side). 


Our suggestion is that you write an email to your research participants to explain about your research, what is needed from them as research participant e.g. how often do they need to fill in an inspection, which checklists to use when and who to ask any questions. 


For information on how to use the BEEP app, you can refer to the getting started article.


Step 5: Collaboration groups (optional)

You can choose to create a collaboration group where you can invite the research participants. The added value is that the participants can view each others hives, inspections and sensor measurements. There are two options: view data or also edit data. More information on collaboration groups and how to set them up is available here: Collaborate.


Step 6: Data collection

Checklists

The beekeepers that are part of your research can start filling out the pre-defined checklists to collect data. 


Sensor data

To collect sensor data you can use the BEEP base or your own measurement system. Install the BEEP base and link it to the correct hive. This is done by the beekeeper/researcher managing the hives on their account. When you have a LoRa connection, your measurement data will automatically be sent to the BEEP server and will thereby be available in the BEEP app. You can also choose to download the data directly from the base using the BEEP base app when you do not have a LoRa connection. 



Step 7: View and download project data

BEEP support will set-up the access right for the beekeeper to be able to open the BEEP admin module. In that module the researcher can see the users that gave concept to share the data. Also, the progress of data collection is visible. The collected data can be downloaded (file-based) or data can be fetched from the BEEP server automatically (using the API).