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Observation Locations

An Observation Location (Obs Location) is a named, fixed point in the field — a specific place your team regularly monitors for weather and snowpack conditions. It has a name, a description, and a set of coordinates that place it on the map.

Obs Locations are foundational to how data is organized in SnowObs. Field data is linked to an Obs Location, which makes it possible to filter, trend, and share data by place over time. Without them, Daily Obs and Auto Station data have no geographic context.

Check out the video below for a quick reference:

From your SnowObs Dashboard:

  • Click Obs Locations on the Dashboard.
  • Or go to Weather > Obs Locations in the navigation menu on the left of the page.

This is where you can view, add, edit or delete Obs Locations.

Creating an Obs Location

  1. Click the New Observation Location button in the top-left of the list.

  2. Fill in the form:

    Field Required Description
    Name Yes A short, unique name for the location (e.g., "Ridge Camp", "Trailhead East"). This name appears in Daily Obs dropdowns and the Auto Station widget.
    Description Yes A brief description of the site — what it is, why it's monitored, or any relevant notes.
    Coordinates No, but recommended The geographic position of the location. Can be set using the map, entered manually as Lat/Lon, or entered as UTM coordinates. See Setting Coordinates below.

    Warning

    If no coordinates are set, the location will default to the coordinates configured in Map Settings.

  3. Click Submit.

Setting Coordinates

Coordinates are optional but recommended — they place the Obs Location on the map and allow Auto Stations to be associated with the correct field site. There are three ways to set the coordinates:

Use the Map

  1. In the form, click the map to open the waypoint picker.
  2. Pan and zoom to the desired location.
  3. Click on the map to drop a waypoint marker. The latitude and longitude fields will auto-populate with the marker's coordinates.

Enter Lat/Lon Manually

  1. In the Latitude field, enter the decimal degrees value (e.g., 46.8721). Use a negative value for southern latitudes.
  2. In the Longitude field, enter the decimal degrees value (e.g., -121.7269). Use a negative value for western longitudes.

Enter UTM Coordinates

  1. Select UTM as the coordinate format using the format toggle on the form.
  2. Enter the Zone (e.g., 10).
  3. Enter the Easting value (e.g., 594000).
  4. Enter the Northing value (e.g., 5184000).
  5. The form will convert and store the coordinates internally as Lat/Lon.

Viewing an Obs Location

Click the arrow on the left side of the Obs Location listing row to view the details. When finished, click the arrow again to collapse the details.

Editing an Obs Location

  1. In the Observation Locations list, click the Edit button on the far right of the row.
  2. Update Name, Description, or Coordinates as needed.
  3. Click Submit.

Note

Changes propagate immediately — existing Daily Obs linked to this Obs Location will reflect the updated name on next load.

Deleting an Obs Location

  1. Click the Delete button on the far right of the row.
  2. Click Confirm.

Warning

Deleting an Obs Location does not delete the Daily Obs linked to it, but those observations will lose their location reference. Auto Station configurations referencing the deleted location will also be affected. Coordinate with your team before deleting an active location.

Where Obs Locations Appear Downstream

Feature How the location appears
Daily Obs list Obs Location name displayed as a column in the table
Daily Obs Calendar View Obs Location picker controls which Obs location's data is displayed for selected month
Daily Obs detail view Obs Location name shown in the header above the observation data
Daily Obs create/edit form Selected from a dropdown — required to submit a new Daily Obs
DailyObs settings Users can set a default Obs Location for auto-fill when entering new Daily Obs
Multi-location Daily Obs form Each row of the form is pre-populated with one Obs Location
Auto Station widget (Dashboard) Auto stations listed in rows by Obs Location
AutoStation setup Obs Location and weather station data context are on page