NOTE: you need to have an account with edit permissions granted in order to add or edit localities.

As the mindat.org database is an ever-growing collection of information and new exploration of mineralogical and geological sites is always underway, you may find a particular locality is not listed on mindat.org. We encourage you to contribute to the database by adding localities to fill out these missing pieces. To submit data, you must be logged in to mindat.org.

Please be sure to search for your locality thoroughly before adding it as a new locality.

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To add a locality, navigate to the nearest hierarchal locality that is listed. For example, if you wanted to add a locality located in Grant County, New Mexico, first navigate to Grant Co., New Mexico. In the blue header of the locality page, select the “Edit” button, then “Add Sublocality.” This will take you to a form page for entering information about a new locality that will fall within Grant County, New Mexico.

Locality Name

Enter the name of the locality in the left portion of this text box. Be sure to leave the hierarchy built for you unedited. This will add your locality as well as place it properly in the hierarchy.

Historic/Alternative Region Names

Often, regions may be referred to by several names, have historical names, or names they are referred to in local languages. Adding these names as alternative names ensures that if someone is searching for the locality by the alternate name, the locality will still be shown in the search results.

Placeholder for

If a locality is split across two political borders, use this feature to link the locality to its listing under another hierarchy (ex. if a locality is located on the border of two states and lies within both, you can use this feature to link both listings so that the locality appears as one locality in both hierarchies). See more about how to record localities that span across political boundaries under Political Subdivisions in Locality Hierarchies and Naming Conventions.

This Locality is On

By default this is set to Earth, but if you are adding information for a locality not on Earth, you will need to select it in this dropdown menu.

Erratics

This addresses localities that in their entirety do not match the local geology – this includes meteorite falls, glacial erratics, water-transported erratics, or general erratics for those situations that do not match any of the previous classifications.

This distinction is made to clarify the data for use in any research of an area's geology – for example, it would be important to recognize whether reports of alabandite at a locality are reports of a meteorite or found in country rock.

If the original locality of the erratic is known, please add it by typing a locality keyword into the text box and using the “Check” button to find a match.

Please include any notes or references regarding the status of the erratic, how the conclusion was reached, etc.

Locality Description

This text box is used to add information that appears in the General Information portion of a locality page. Adding information is not required, but if you have any information regarding the locality, please share so that others have access to that information when researching the locality. This can include history of the locality, geological information, land ownership, etc.

Do not add references here - references should be added to the reference box below. If you wish to refer to a reference within the description text, use the footnote feature, described in References.

References

This section is used to document print references about a locality. Again, please contribute any references you are aware of so that others may make use of those references when searching for information. Be sure that your references are formatted correctly: see References.

Links (Online references)

This section is used to add links to online references.

Survey Type

If the locality has been surveyed by a geological organization, specify the organization in the drop down menu.

Survey ID Number

If the locality has been surveyed by a geological organization, enter the survey number here. This will create a link to the survey under the Search tab on the locality page.

Region geoJSON or WKT data

If you don't know what this means, don't touch it.

Latitude & Longitude

Latitude and longitude allow a locality to be placed on the map when viewing locality pages of the region. If a locality has no coordinates, it will not be placed on the map.

Latitude and longitude can be added by d/m/s, decimal degrees, or UTM coordinates. You only need to enter the coordinates in one of these formats to add the latitude and longitude.

If you do not know the exact coordinates of a locality, but want to add this information, you can use the map below to locate the coordinates. You can use the search box to enter a nearby town or landmark, then drag the marker to the correct location. Coordinates will update automatically to reflect the location of the marker.

Area

Beneath the map display, is a text box for area – this can be used to designate the area of a locality. Some localities may be quite expansive, while others may be very precise and limited. Area is described in square kilometers.

When you are finished filling out as much of this data as you have available, be sure to select "Submit" at the bottom of the page to submit the locality information!

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For information about editing and adding more information (including new rocks and minerals) to existing localities, see Editing a Locality.