1 Topic by bphilp

  • bphilp
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  • Registered: 09-03-2015
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Topic: Exporting from MapMate to Recorder

I have been storing my data on MapMate for some time but I am considering transferring it to Recorder. Can anyone tell me if this is straightforward and what the pitfalls are?
Bruce

2 Reply by MikeWeideli

  • MikeWeideli
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Re: Exporting from MapMate to Recorder

R6 can import MapMate data and retain the original MapMate key, or you can export the MapMate data as an Excel file and import this into Recorder 6. This is probably the best way if you no longer intend to use MapMate. If necessary you can tidy up  the data in Excel before doing the import.  Probably the biggest issue will be the Observers names. Recorder has a structure to these, but MapMate does not. If it is your own data, with very few Observers then it will not be too difficult to tidy up the data in Excel before  import, or in R6 after import. There are other differences in the way data is handled (eg Location) so you should try putting a few Records into R6 to see what suits you best.

Mike Weideli

MikeWeideli's Website

3 Reply by bphilp

  • bphilp
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Re: Exporting from MapMate to Recorder

Thanks for the reply. Now that I know it can work I wonder if you can tell me the benefits - I assume that you think Recorder is better but does it solve some of my MapMate problems? Two in particular:

Sites - MapMate records every grid reference as a new site rather than keeping all sites with the same name (eg Auchinleck Estate) together. This is a real pest when trying to compile a site list.

Recorders - I seem to have ended up with several references to single recorders. This is probably not a major issue but an annoyance.

I have a large number of records (almost 20000) so I don't want to make a mess of this and I obviously want to keep them in the most effective and useful way.

4 Reply by MikeWeideli

  • MikeWeideli
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Re: Exporting from MapMate to Recorder

I won't comment on which is better. I would say that Recorder 6 is more flexible, but this means you need to give some thought to how you set it up and use it.  Recorder has a site structure, which allows you to set up a Location (Site) with sub sites if you need then.  Use of the Location structure is optional, so you can record just by grid ref without using it, but you can still record a site name as text against a record.  Recorder has a structure for the Observers (Recorders) rather than holding  the full name as string.

You would have the option of transferring all the  all the records then doing the tidying up in Recorder, or exporting the data to excel and doing some tidying up there before importing.  If you need any help let me know.

Mike Weideli

MikeWeideli's Website