You can almost definitely do the manipulation in Recorder, but Recorder can only output one file at a time so you woudl need to run the extract with different parameters one at a time and save the output after each extract.  An xml with the parameters you need would do the job. Alternatively, you could do all the work in Recorder so the output file contains all the data you need in the format you require, sorted into order based on your selection criteria. You could then just copy and paste each Group into a new spreadsheet, or design an Excel macro which did the split automatically for you. If you can provide a more detailed information I can advise further.

Gary

It depnds a bit on how many files yiu need to get the results you want,  If there are not too many  then generating and exporting them individually would be fine.  If there are a a large number then generating one export with columns identify the splits might be easier. Which GIS s system are you using ? 

Mike

Gary

I am not familer with Mapmaker, perhaps someone else can advise. In most GIS system  you can easily import an Excel file into the system database and used the attributes within the sofware  to control the maps.

Mike

Gary

I downloaded MpaMaket trial and had a look. You can import attributes into the database, but so far I can't see how you can use these to control what is displayed. Possibly the ID can be used, but I couldn't immediately see how this would work. Perhaps when you get more familer with MapMaker you may find a better way.  Let us know how you get on.

Hello,

I have come up with a solution that seems to work ok so far. I have changed my extract to include some more fields to tally in with MapMaker. Although, I am sure with further investigation it could be further refined. As well as x,y co-ordinates, species name (common and actual), record_type.short_name and grid ref I have included a couple more. I added taxon_occurrence _key which gives a unique identifier. I have also extracted the last two chars. from the record_type_key. These can be used in MapMaker to control the style.

Once the extract is run I output the result to an Excel file. This is an area that is still not clear to me with its relation to MapMaker. I am presuming that every time I extract from Recorder 6 I have to do a similar extract to MapMaker. i.e. if the spreadsheet changes MapMaker does not get automatically updated.

Anyway, once the Excel file is there I can either manipulate the data there or import into Mapmaker from the Excel file and manipulate the data in there. MapMaker allows me to create a vector file from Excel. The output in MapMaker can be controlled by the use of styles and to a degree is flexible. What I am really looking for is flexibility. i.e. can I easily switch between showing the data by species or by record type or date or all of it?
At the moment from what I can see that is controlled by the extracts that you feed into it.

Perhaps there is a more flexible way of linking the data to MapMaker but I haven't progressed that far.

Anyway I am getting some results that are getting to where I want it.

Maybe, if others have some thoughts on how other GIS software works it  might give me a clue for investigation into finding similar functions in MapMaker.

Cheers for now

Gary Pocklington

Hello John,

I think in your last point it highlights what the main problem is when I try to put the data into GIS. For instance on the small amount of data I have got so far an example can be where a species can have four record types field record, casualty, droppings or tracks. The question then becomes how can I present the information in GIS?

My current understanding of GIS is that you build layers to make up a map. I have got files from the OS Open Data series. In the vector files they supply they are broken down into for example roads, railways etc. within each of these they are categorised as motorway, a-road, b-road or main line, single track etc. So that is similar to how I built my extract from Recorder 6. In essence I am extracting all the species but my categories are the record types i.e. droppings, field record etc.

At the moment I can only see that in GIS I would have to build layers for the variations that I would be looking for. If the data is not shown in GIS as broken down by the record types then it becomes meaningless. In Mapmaker, at the moment the simplest way I can see of doing it is, to extract all the records from Recorder 6 into an excel file. This then becomes the 'database' input to MapMaker. I would then need to create layers for species/record type. Again, at the moment the only way I can see how to do this is to create 'snapshots' from the excel file of the individual species. These then form the base for the layers in GIS.

I have had a quick look at one of those 'open source' GIS programs and as far as I can see it operates on a similar basis?

So, it might be a combination of me not fully understanding how GIS works and the limitations within that software. I think my initial thoughts were that I would only need to do one extract of all the data and then within GIS I would be able to manipulate the display without having to do further extracts. Anyway, perhaps it is in there somewhere but I have not yet come across it?

Cheers for now

Gary Pocklington

Hello John,

I must admit that I didn't find the mapping particuarly friendly in Recorder. So, for more flexibility I looked for a solution in GIS. I sort of feel that it gives me more options.

However if you are saying that what I am trying to do could be acheived in Recorder then I would certainly give it a try.

Cheers for now

Gary Pocklington