The Invasive Alien Plant Program
(IAPP) Application
Welcome to REPORT-A-WEED!
This unique and innovative tool lets you report an invasive plant sighting directly to one of our provincial specialists!
Map Display is an interactive mapping tool to assist land management agencies, non-government organizations, and the general public in developing and delivering effective invasive plant management programs throughout BC.
Invasive alien plant species are constantly on the move and expanding into new areas. Reporting new infestations will assist all land owners and invasive plant managers in early detection and rapid response activities.
PLEASE NOTE: Report-A-Weed utilizes Javascript as the communication language between your computer and Map Display. Depending on your browser, and the security settings on your computer, the Report may not be sent.
If this is the case, this document will help you customize your Internet Tools settings to allow your computer to communicate with the application.
Regardless of the implementation of these settings, users should always ensure an up-to-date anti-virus application is active at all times.
If you use a browser other than Internet Explorer, such as Mozilla Firefox, you may not be able to send a Report-A-Weed report, due to Firefox blocking the necessary Javascript. We apologize for this inconvenience, and aim to remedy this as soon as possible. Meanwhile, users with a PC are urged to use Internet Explorer as their browser for IAPP activities on-line.
The Report-A-Weed-wizard takes you through 3 easy steps to report a suspected new sighting of an invasive alien plant species in BC.
Your report will be compared to known locations of the reported species in the IAPP application, and then it will be sent directly to a provincial Invasive Plant Specialist for your area. The Specialist may then share this information with the local Weed Committee Coordinator so that the agency/land owner responsible for the infestation can be notified.
The section below outlines in detail how to use the Report-A-Weed-wizard, or you may access the wizard directly from here.
How to use Report-A-Weed
The steps for reporting a weed:
- Navigate and zoom to the location where you spotted the invasive plant;
- Activate the Report-A-Weed tool
 ;
- Mark the location of the infestation on the map;
- Enter the necessary data in the Report-A-Weed wizard screens.
This link will launch the Welcome to Report-A-Weed panel, which is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen with an overview map of BC in the main display area:
Step 1 - Navigate and zoom to the location of the invasive plant.
NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with navigating within an online mapping environment, please go to our condensed overview of the main navigating tools at the bottom of this page, or feel free to view or download our Reference Guide Module III, which explains how to get optimum use out of the entire Map Display application.
Step 2 - Activate the Report-A-Weed tool.
If, in the process of navigating to your selected location, the Welcome to Report-A-Weed panel has been replaced by another panel, click the dark-blue Report-A-Weed tab in the blue menu bar to return to Welcome to Report-A-Weed.
Click the Report A Weed Now button. This activates the Report-A-Weed-wizard, and the right-hand panel will display the Report-A-Weed (Step 1 of 3) screen.
Click the icon in the toolbar to activate the Report-A-Weed tool.
Step 3 - Mark the location on the map.
Click the location of the infestation on the map with your mouse. The map refreshes, centred around the weed location, and the UTM coordinates of the location are now displayed in the Step 1 of 3 screen.
Click the Next button. This launches the Report-A-Weed (Step 2 of 3) screen.
Step 4 - Enter the necessary data.
Please enter data in all the fields. The information you submit is confidential, but the Invasive Plant Specialist who receives your report may share the information with your local weed committee coordinator, to expedite the follow-up process.
If you took a photograph of the infestation in the field, please mention this in the Comment field. The specialist would undoubtedly appreciate it if you could email the image, since it is not yet possible to attach images to this report.
In addition to your name, please supply either an email address or a phone number (or both), so that you may be kept informed on the status of your submission.
Click the Next button. This launches the Report-A-Weed (Step 3 of 3) screen, where you can review the details of your submission.
- If you wish to make a correction, click the Back button. The Step 2 of 3 screen returns for you to make edits.
- If you are satisfied with the data on this screen, click the Submit button. You will be presented with the Thank You screen, and the submission will be placed in the specialist's inbox instantly!
- If you decide not to go through with the report submission, click the Cancel button. You will be presented with the standard 'About IAPP' logon screen.
You Are Finished!
Thank You for Your Concern and Participation.
The Main Navigating Tools within Map Display
The easiest way to navigate anywhere within BC is by using the tools in the first tool group on the icon toolbar, and/or the blue menu item named "Find Location":
Clicking a tool icon activates it, and places a red square around it.
The first tool group lets you:
Zoom to BC - this tool will display the BC overview map.
Zoom in - click anywhere to zoom; or click and drag a rectangle on the map to delineate the area you want to zoom to.
Zoom out - identical to the previous tool, but zooms out instead of in.
Pan - click and drag the map in any direction, without altering the scale.
Zoom to previous - if you performed an action you didn't mean or don't like, you can use this tool to return to your previous scale and location.
Display Index Map - if you are lost and need to know where you are in BC, this tool will place a small map of BC in the right hand panel that displays a small red rectangle indicting your map position. You can drag this red rectangle to another location on the map to zoom there instantly.
Clicking the Find Location menu tab will display the Find Location tool in the right hand panel.
Clicking any of the "Zoom To" items will open a new input area where you can pick or type in the item of your choice.
For example, if you click "Zoom to Municipality" you will get a dropdown list containing all the municipalities in BC.
If you click "Find Place Name" you can type in anything you may be searching for that might appear on the map, such as Clearwater Lake, or Mount Arrowsmith, or Spuzzum, etc.
Aerial views can also be very helpful to help you locate your exact point on the map. To enable this feature, click the Layers tab. In the layers view that displays at right, click the folder icon called Grids and Images, and click the box in front of Orthophoto. Click the Refresh Map button and the map will now display aerial images below all the other layers.
Back to Step 1
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