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GRUMERS (SOCIB)

Jellyfish monitoring platform of SOCIB, the Balearic Islands coastal observing system, with maps and reports. Mecexis modernised the Django app.

GRUMERS (SOCIB) screenshot

About GRUMERS (SOCIB)

GRUMERS is the jellyfish observation application of SOCIB, the Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System. It gathers jellyfish observations and turns them into maps and reports that support marine monitoring.

In 2024 Mecexis modernised it by upgrading Django to a current version, preparing the deployment with containers and improving the existing application, so that SOCIB could keep running a long-standing marine monitoring tool on a supported, maintainable base.

The stack is Django with GeoDjango for the geographic data, deployed with Docker. The public entry point is the login page, since observations are managed by registered users.

What to notice

Summary

Grumers is a web application called "Jellyfish observations application," built on Django, that allows users to log in and report jellyfish sightings. It is developed and maintained by SOCIB (Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System) in collaboration with the Government of the Balearic Islands and CSIC (Spanish National Research Council). The current page is a login screen with language options (English, Catalan, Spanish) and a password recovery feature.

Target audience

This application is designed for citizens, scientists, and environmental volunteers in the Balearic Islands region interested in reporting and monitoring jellyfish sightings along coastal areas. It also serves researchers and public institutions (like SOCIB and CSIC) studying marine biology and coastal safety.

Key features

  • Dedicated platform for reporting jellyfish observations
  • Multilingual interface supporting English, Catalan, and Spanish
  • User authentication system with login and password recovery
  • Institutional backing from SOCIB, Government of the Balearic Islands, and CSIC
  • Version tracking (v0.10.0) indicating active development
  • Clean, navigation-focused UI with toggle menu
  • Footer with institutional logos and links

Pain points

  • Lack of public access to the observation tool without creating an account first
  • No visible information on the homepage about how to report a sighting or what data is collected
  • No clear onboarding or guidance for first-time users on the login page
  • No visible map or recent sightings data without authentication
  • The page content has a template rendering artifact ("{% LANGUA}") suggesting possible unfinished development

Usage instructions

Users must first log in with a username and password to access the jellyfish observation features. New users would need to register (if registration is available) or use the password recovery option if they forget their credentials. Once authenticated, users can presumably submit jellyfish sightings, view observations, and contribute to monitoring efforts.