Annotations Help

About Annotations

Annotations are markers or comments you can add to NEPTUNE Canada videos and installation dives. In the future, you'll also be able to annotate other types of data, instruments and many other things. When you create an annotation, you can choose to keep it private (only you will be able to see it), or you can share it with the world (anyone will be able to search for it and see it).

IMPORTANT: ONCE YOU SHARE AN ANNOTATION, YOU CAN'T "UNSHARE" IT – THE ANNOTATION BECOMES PART OF THE NEPTUNE CANADA ARCHIVES AND REMAINS VIEWABLE BY ALL USERS.

Our first version of Annotations is included in SeaTube, allowing you to annotate any of the dive videos currently available.

Flagging Something

The flag button lets you quickly mark a time and place in the video. When you click it, nothing seems to happen. Behind the scenes, however, an empty annotation is created, which you can search and open later, to add comments and further information. 

Annotating Something

To create a full annotation, click the Add an Annotation button. The annotation panel pops up. You can then:

1. Define the time period the annotation refers to
2. Add your comments
3. Share the annotation by clicking the Shared button (cannot be undone)
4. Flag your annotation for future reference or editing

Searching Annotations

To search and review annotations, choose Annotations from the More... menu:

This opens the Query Annotations page.

The Query Annotations screen lets you search for annotations by:

• Resource type: ROPOS dive, device, etc.
• Resource: an individual dive, device, etc.
• Annotation: text contained in any of the annotation comments
• Date & Time: specific date and time range
• Shared: Shared or published annotations previously created by anyone
• My annotations: annotations created by you, including those you have or haven't shared or flagged

Refine your search using the above filters, then click the Search button. When you do this, the results are displayed below, listed by:

• ID: a unique identification number assigned to each annotation. Click these numbers to view or edit individual annotations.
• Resource Type: ROPOS dive, device, etc.
• Resource Name: the name of the individual dive, device, etc. related to each individual annotation
• Annotation: comment or other information contained within the annotation
• Start/End Date: the dates and times referenced by each annotation (this does not refer to the date and time the annotation was created)
• Flagged: whether an annotation has been flagged or not
• Shared: whether an annotation is shared (published) or not

Downloading Annotations

After searching, you can copy the full list of annotations for use in a spreadsheet. Click Download CSV to copy the search results list your computer clipboard; then you can paste it into a text editor or spreadsheet.

Further Development

This annotation system is in early stages of development. We welcome your comments and suggestions on how to improve it and make it more useful. Please click Add Comment below, and tell us your ideas!