Data can be imported into the DDb via a spreadsheet file. The DDb is quite flexible in coping with a variety of spreadsheet formats.
Currently access to this functionality is restricted to VCRs who have the required permissions and who have received training in using it. Please contact your Country Officer if you are interested in participating in a future training session.
While the DDb is able to import a variety of formats, we have provided this Excel spreadsheet, as a good starting point. It includes an integrated taxon name lookup. You will need to enable macros to use the spreadsheet.
Validate the taxonomic names
The first step is to validate the taxononic names within your spreadsheet file. Once that step is complete, you can move on to importing the data.
Import the data into the DDb queue
You will need to open the Excel spreadsheet from the previous step and save as 'Text (tab-delimited)' ready for the import.
To import the data, go to Tools > Data import > Import tabular records in the main menu.
Please fill in a brief description. The description is not part of the final data and is only used to label the data in the upload queue. It can therefore be quite concise.
If possible set the default vice-county e.g. VC102 (but only for data sets that belong to a single county). The setting in this field is used to bias VC selection for grid squares that span county boundaries.
You can optionally set a data set (when a group of records represent a distinct survey or project), or a reference, which would normally relate to, for example, a specific journal article.
Select your text file from the previous step (with the added taxon ids column) as data file.
Other fields in the Advanced options panel can be left with their default values. You can ignore the column descriptions row - you will define the columns manually at the next stage.
Click the preview button.
The tabular data file will load into a table below the form. You need to define the meaning of each column.
Set the taxon id column as taxon ddb id - leave the other taxon-related columns (including the extra columns left in by the validation tool) as 'ignore'.
For each of the other columns in your data set the column type:
- For the date field use 'record date'=>'absolute or range' (note that the column is 'record date' and not 'record date stamp' which is the date of data entry)
- For the recorder name use 'party'=>'recorder/collector'
- For notes use 'notes'=>leave the field name as 'notes', 'applicable to'=>'records'
- For quantity/number/abundance, use ‘abundance’. Numbers, or some specific codings, expected, though this is an unstructured field and other values will be accepted if appropriate. See the Expected fields page for more details.
- For any separate locality notes then use 'notes'=>'applicable to'=>'record-locality' (not 'locality')
- For a specific type of comment (e.g. habitat) use a 'notes' or 'attribute' field applied to record (rather than record-locality, which doesn't allow it to be tagged with 'habitat'). Use 'notes' if the habitat is free-text, or 'attribute' if it is concise or structured. In principle 'habitat' could instead be applied as a note to 'locality' - but that is less visible and assumes that the named site has only a single habitat.
- If you have a separate determination notes column then use 'notes', 'applicable to'=>'determination' (leaving 'det column' as 0 - this is the index of the determination, not the column number and is relevant only if the row has multiple determination entries or multiple taxon ids).
- For the vice county use 'vc'
- For the grid reference use 'grid reference'=>'OS Grid-square'
- For the site/place name use 'place name' (leave the rank blank, it's applicable only if there is a hierarchy of sites within sites)
- For record type or method, use record type, which takes values such as 'field record', 'herbarium specimen', 'photograph') -. If all records are field records, this column can be ignored. See the Expected fields page for more details.
- For the status, use 'status'. See the Expected fields page for more details.
- For a sex column with useful content, create an 'attribute' labelled 'sex'.
- At present stage is also only treated as a free-text 'stage' attribute, but this is something that we should be processing in a more structured way, as phenology is of increasing interest, particularly in the context of potential climate change, and also for projects such as the New Year Plant Hunt. It can be imported using an 'attribute' labelled as 'stage'.
- For altitude records, use altitude(m)
- For host plant, use attribute, applicable to record, attribute name: Host plant
- For accession date, use attribute, applicable to record, attribute name: Accession date
- For updated date, use attribute, applicable to record, attribute name: Update date
- For a non-BSBI identifier, use external identifier code, applicable to record
- For a direct image link, use image url, url target: image, action: import local copy
- For a photographer, use 'party'=>'recorder/collector', party type: photographer
- For a web page link, use image url, url target: web page, action: use as page url
- For a herbarium location, use herbarium name code. Herbarium codes should match the list maintained by the New York Botanical Garden. The DDb should recognise codes for all UK and Irish institutions.
Importing null records
If you want to import a null record, set abundance to 'absent' (which will be interpreted the same way). Note that to avoid ambiguity, abundance '0' is not allowed.