1 Reply by DGERC

  • DGERC
  • DGERC
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  • From: SWSEIC
  • Registered: 31-05-2006
  • Posts: 232

Re: Reporting and common names

I know this has been raised before, but to I don't think its ever been resolved (if it has I've missed it).   I think it would be very helpful to be able to bring out a recommended or preferred common name from the database using the report wizard.  The Recommended Taxon Name field is extremely useful but if you extract data via the wizard and you are presenting information to clients including both scientific and common names it does look odd in reports having some records with 'Otter' and some with 'European Otter' - and tidying this up is time consuming.

I appreciate you can do this with a recursive link in the index_taxon_name table in xml reports but it would surely be a benefit to get this out from within the report wizard?

Don't know how others feel about this...

Mark
DGERC

Mark Pollitt
SWSEIC (formerly DGERC)

DGERC's Website

2 Reply by Lynn Heeley

  • Lynn Heeley
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  • Registered: 03-07-2008
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Re: Reporting and common names

Hi Mark,

I think this is quite a tricky area as there is no such thing at the moment as a preferred or recommended common name and in the species dictionary itself not all lists or items actually have common names. Also there are quite a few regional differences in the use of common names and there would be invariably be groups that disagreed with the chosen preferred name. I will add this to the wishlist for future enhancements but this may take more time and money than it is worth to sort out. How used would this be?

Cheers,
Lynn

3 Reply by Alison Stewart

  • Alison Stewart
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  • Registered: 03-10-2006
  • Posts: 46

Re: Reporting and common names

Hi Mark/Lynn

Yes please!!

Tidying up the inconsistencies of the common names in a lengthy report is frustrating and becoming tedious, even though I have got the process down to a fine art using Excel lookups.  Using the common name that is given on the recommended checklist would be a start, presumably those who want a regional variation could use the Edit Taxon Details.

Where there isn’t a common name and the scientific name is repeated, (or even the former scientific name where there have been changes between checklists), could we at least use the common name for the group, e.g. a hoverfly, or combine this with the request for the family/order as is being requested elsewhere on the forum at the moment.

Lynn, I hope you will remember that this is one of the several points I wrote to you at length about when you consulted for the Recorder User Group last autumn.  I can send you my document again if you can’t find it, so that my requests can be considered for the next update.

Alison


Alison Stewart
Environmental Database Manager
Dorset Environmental Records Centre

Alison Stewart
Dorset Environmental Records Centre

4 Reply by DGERC

  • DGERC
  • DGERC
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  • From: SWSEIC
  • Registered: 31-05-2006
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Re: Reporting and common names

Thanks Lynn

I agree that some common names are bound to differ between regions, organisations etc. but it would be helpful just to have the option to pull out the one preferred common name for a given species.  Personally I don't care if it says 'Red Squirrel' or 'Eurasian Red Squirrel', but not both in the same report!  As Alison said it would save time in tidying up reports etc. 

I seem to remember that the option of using 'edit taxon details' to add in your own names causes problems with the nameserver and reporting (duplication of records) if you set the preferred common name to be something other than the built in one.

Mark Pollitt
SWSEIC (formerly DGERC)

DGERC's Website