Your data — clean, connected, accessible

Where your data lives

Think of a Source as a single structured collection of related records — like a spreadsheet tab, but more powerful. Each ODK form you deploy becomes a Source. Each CSV or TSV you upload becomes a Source. Your raw data lives here exactly as collected, organized by project, year, or however you prefer.

Import from multiple collection platforms, upload CSV/TSV files, or connect live data streams directly. ISLdata prioritizes getting data in cleanly, then makes any needed cleanup efficient.

Seeing across your data

A View lets you combine data from multiple Sources into a single live table — without copying or duplicating anything. Join field observations and lab results by sample ID in a few clicks, not SQL. Views always reflect current data and update automatically as new records arrive.

Create cross-source merges, apply lookups, compute derived fields, filter and summarize. Enable materialized views for complex joins that need to run fast — ISLdata refreshes them automatically in the background.

Views are also working surfaces — you can add entirely new fields that don't exist in any source, letting your team build categorisations, flags, or derived values directly on top of the data without touching the original collection.

Your project at a glance

Any number of Dashboards and Reports can turn your Sources and Views into something you can share and act on — data plots, Source records, Views, as well as static content such as images and text (titles, legends, background info) are saved in dashboards or a document format that can be exported to PDF. These objects are saved and always reflect the most up-to-date data.

Build panels with lists, plots, rich text, and statistical outputs. R and Python integration powers deeper computations directly within the platform. Share with your team, PI, or funder.

Connected from the start

Connect to ODK Central, Esri Survey123, and other collection tools. Each connected platform feeds directly into your Sources without manual export and re-import steps — data syncs automatically on a schedule or on demand.

More integrations are in active development. If your collection tool isn't listed yet, reach out — we prioritize based on what our community needs.

Complete data isolation

Each organization runs in its own Workspace — a completely separate database, not just a restricted view into a shared one. Your data physically cannot mix with another organization's, which matters for compliance, IRB requirements, and peace of mind.

Assign users full access or restrict them by role within a workspace. Each workspace is audited independently. Self-host on your own infrastructure, or let us manage it — either way the isolation holds.

Every action, recorded

Every data access, import, export, and edit is logged automatically — no configuration needed. Revert changes when needed. Know exactly who did what, and when, across the entire history of your workspace.

Essential for compliance, reproducibility, and institutional trust. When a funder or IRB asks who modified a dataset on a given date, you have the answer.

Forward and backward through your workflow

As records move through a research pipeline — from field collection to lab processing to results — ISLdata maintains traceable links in both directions. From any record, you can follow it back to where it originated, or forward to what it became. No manual bookkeeping required.