1 Reply by Darwyn Sumner (LERC)

  • Darwyn Sumner (LERC)
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  • Registered: 07-06-2006
  • Posts: 176

Re: Validating incoming records in a Recorder/Recorder transfer

Does anyone have a best solution for this please?

Incoming records have Locations Grid References which are 100k out (clearly demonstrated by dumping the incoming Survey onto a county map)

I'm unable to:
1. edit Event or Sample Spatial Ref from my contributor's recordset,
2. flag the Event or Sample Location as incorrect (e.g. by adding "error" to its name) because the Event Location is also used for correct records,
3. uncheck the species records (a bit laborious anyway for long lists)
4. flag the incorrect Events or Samples as invalid (this would give me chance to write an XML to produce a list)

All I'm able to do is:
1. Hand write all the corrections, contact the author of dataset, ask him to make corrections and do the exports and imports again
2. Masquerade as this author, make the corrections myself, export to him, reimport from him as a double-check

Surely there's a better way

2 Reply by Janet Simkin

  • Janet Simkin
  • Janet Simkin
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  • From: Northumberland
  • Registered: 10-05-2006
  • Posts: 260

Re: Validating incoming records in a Recorder/Recorder transfer

Hi Darwyn,

I don't have a solution for you. We find that incorrect grid references are so common that the only practical approach is for me to tweak the custodianship so that I can make the changes myself. There are other circumstances when this is needed as well, especially if the original recorder is unable or unwilling to make the changes themselves.

How about an option in the system to allow the system manager to override the custodianship if they really need to? To be used with caution, of course!

Janet

Janet Simkin
British Lichen Society

Janet Simkin's Website

3 Reply by Darwyn Sumner (LERC)

  • Darwyn Sumner (LERC)
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  • Registered: 07-06-2006
  • Posts: 176

Re: Validating incoming records in a Recorder/Recorder transfer

Thanks for replying, Janet.
There is, of course, a means of overriding the custodianship but it's a secret known only to a few.
I don't think it would be right if I were to use this method and alter the contributor's incoming grid references, after all, the contributor knows more about these Locations than I do - more so if we were talking about the records from a National Scheme and thus likely to have Locations from places I'd never heard of. So validation is best wielded by the hands of the originator. If they get it wrong, we have far too few options to try and correct it.
What I am having to do is:
1. Check all the Locations within the incoming county dataset against county and parish boundaries using the mapping facility (not an exhaustive methodology) and with some local knowledge
2. Move the suspect Locations to an "errors" parent in the hierarchy (there's a lot of them!)
3. Make a list of all these errors (automatically would be best - I haven't worked this out yet)
4. Send the list to the contributor asking for all the errors to be corrected
5. Ask the contributor to resubmit all the dataset
6. Reimport
7. Check for errors
8. Repeat from step 1 until all are resolved

That's a really labour-intensive task so anything that could make it less so would be invaluable (e.g. a validation check box on all Locations and a Location-only export/import routine that could be sent to the contributor for correcting)

4 Reply by Janet Simkin

  • Janet Simkin
  • Janet Simkin
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  • From: Northumberland
  • Registered: 10-05-2006
  • Posts: 260

Re: Validating incoming records in a Recorder/Recorder transfer

I agree, a validation check box on the location and a location only export/import would both help.

You are right, of course it is best for the people with local knowledge to correct the location information if they can be persuaded to do so, and most are keen to get their records right. Unfortunately there will be times when this is not possible, and that's when it would be useful to have the ability to override the custodianship as a last resort. It would be tempting to use it too often though.

Janet

Janet Simkin
British Lichen Society

Janet Simkin's Website