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Topic: Multiple observers being mangled

Referencing Jim's record regarding negatives ( https://forums.nbn.org.uk/viewtopic.php … 211#p27211 ) we see that an occurrence with multiple observers appears to have failed interpretation:

Wood, C. Chris|null
Supplied as "Chris Wood, Anna Yunnie and John Bishop"

Presumably on translation the import code isn't able to deal with ", Anna Yunnie and John Bishop" ?

Charlie Barnes
Information Officer
Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership

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Re: Multiple observers being mangled

Hi Charlie

Thanks for sending us an example of the way the database is interpreting multiple observer names. 

We will check to make sure the import is working as expected and explore if there is any guidance on how to submit multiple observer names within the Darwin Core format that result in a different interpretation.

Christine

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Re: Multiple observers being mangled

Hi Charlie,

It looks as though the formatting was likely just a little off in the original upload. Was this supplied as Darwin Core or as the old NBN Data Exchange Format?

If Darwin Core, the guidance for the recordedBy field is: The primary collector or observer, especially one who applies a personal identifier (recordNumber), should be listed first. The recommended best practice is to separate the values with a vertical bar (' | ') e.g. "Oliver P. Pearson | Anita K. Pearson"

Hope this helps,
Ella

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Re: Multiple observers being mangled

No idea- it wasn't supplied by us. I think it was transferred from the Gateway? Was that format of observer valid for Gateway uploads? If so, it may be a more prevalent issue.

Charlie Barnes
Information Officer
Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership

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Re: Multiple observers being mangled

I was concerned by this report as many of our records have multiple recorder names, therefore I checked some of these records which would have been transferred from the NBN Gateway and therefore supplied under the Data Exchange Format.
In the examples I examined the recorder names separated by a |. 
It is therefore possible that the problem may result from instances where recorder names are separated by a non-standard character rather than ; in the original document.

Hope this helps.

Christine

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Re: Multiple observers being mangled

Thanks Christine - that's good to know.

Charlie Barnes
Information Officer
Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership

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Re: Multiple observers being mangled

Hi,
A small change was made to the Atlas over night: observer names are now displayed on the occurrence record as they are in the original upload.

For example, see https://records.nbnatlas.org/occurrence … 0729aa19ca

Thanks, Sophie

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Re: Multiple observers being mangled

Thanks for the update Sophie!

Charlie Barnes
Information Officer
Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership