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