What makes up a Site Profile?
Every site on Restor is made up of two parts:
Site information: the description, metadata, photos, scientific data and other details that tell the story of your site
Site polygon: the boundary you draw or upload on the map, representing the site's location and area
Every site on Restor is represented on the map by a polygon. There is no such thing as a site without a boundary; the polygon is the site, and its area determines the hectares associated with that site's metrics and reporting.
A strong site profile gets both parts right. Here's what that looks like:
1. Site information
Good description of what restoration is happening
Complete site metadata, including Site Type, Intervention Type, and the other required fields
Photos including Before and after images showing progression over time
Link to an organization profile for credibility and context
Contact information for collaboration and partnership opportunities
2. Site polygon
Clearly defined site boundaries on the map, accurately reflecting where the site's activity is taking place
See it in action
Before building your own profile, explore featured sites on Restor to see these elements in practice. Look for sites with clear descriptions, strong photo galleries, and visible organization links. Seeing real examples will give you a concrete sense of what a well-developed profile looks like and inspire ideas for your own.
Why each element matters
Site information
Description: Help visitors quickly understand your restoration type, goals, and the environmental challenge you're addressing. Clear descriptions make your work discoverable and shareable.
Site metadata: Fields like Site Type, Intervention Type, Site Status, Pre-Intervention Land Use, and Post-Intervention Land Cover give your profile the structure funders, researchers and data analysts rely on to discover sites, compare and aggregate projects across the platform. An incomplete or inaccurate Site Type also affects how your boundary should be drawn (see below), so it's worth getting right early. See Understanding Site Types and Intervention Types on Restor for definitions of every field and accepted value.
Before and after photos: Visual progression demonstrates impact and tangible results. Photos also make your project more engaging and shareable on social media and in reports.
Organization profile link: Builds credibility by connecting your site to an established organization. Provides visitors with additional context about your team and broader mission.
Contact information: Enables direct collaboration, volunteer recruitment, and knowledge exchange. Make it easy for interested practitioners, researchers, and community members to reach you.
Site polygon
Site boundaries: Everything in the Scientific Data tab, biodiversity, carbon, water, risk, land cover, and socio-economic and environmental data, is calculated using Google Earth Engine based on the exact boundary you draw or upload. That's why your polygon needs to be as accurate as possible: funders, researchers, data analysts, and land planners rely on it to understand your exact restoration area, and it directly determines the quality of the data your site generates.
For sites with the Restoration, Conservation, or Sustainable Land Management site types, this means mapping only the area where the intervention is actually taking place, not the wider landscape or region around it. Draw the boundary as tightly as possible around the real footprint of the work on the ground. (Not sure how to draw or upload a boundary in the first place? See How do I draw a site? for step-by-step instructions.)
This matters for two reasons:
Accuracy of reporting. The hectares associated with your site are calculated directly from the polygon. A boundary that's larger than the actual intervention area will overstate the hectares being restored or conserved.
Restor Insights billing. If you're on a Restor Insights plan, you're charged based on the hectares covered by your sites. Drawing large, general boundaries that include areas with no active intervention means you may be billed for hectares that aren't actually part of your restoration or conservation work.
Avoid:
Drawing or uploading large, encompassing boundaries meant to represent a general area, region, or "zone of interest" and tagging them as Restoration, Conservation, or Sustainable Land Management.
Using a single multipolygon to represent several separate, disconnected intervention areas. Bundling unrelated patches of land into one shape inflates the hectares attributed to a single site and makes it harder for others to understand where the actual work is happening. If you're restoring or conserving several distinct areas, draw each as its own site instead.
Illustrating a broader area or region: If you want to show the general area where several interventions are happening, for example a landscape, jurisdiction, or region containing multiple individual sites, you can still do this on Restor. Just create it as a separate site (see How do I draw a site? for the drawing steps):
Draw or upload a boundary for the broader area.
Set that site's Site Type to Landscape or Area of Interest.
Use the Description field to explain what the boundary represents, for example that it's a general region containing several individual restoration or conservation sites, and is not itself an area of active intervention.
This keeps your individual intervention sites accurate for hectare reporting, while still letting you communicate the bigger picture of where your work fits in.
A note on accuracy checks: Restor reserves the right to set a site to private, or reach out to you for clarification, if a boundary doesn't reflect real-world conditions, for example a large triangle or other simple shape that doesn't follow any natural or man-made land boundary visible on the map. If you're struggling to add your sites to the map accurately, reach out to us at support@restor.eco and we're happy to help.
Content guidelines
All images and text uploaded to your profile must be appropriate for all audiences. We use automated tools to identify and flag potentially inappropriate content, so please ensure all photos and descriptions meet community standards.
The more you share, thoughtfully and transparently, the more others can learn from your work and contribute to the restoration movement.