Workflow (< 26 Oct 2007)

This workflow is deprecated in favor of the new georeferencing workflow for projects downloaded and distributed after the release of BioGeomancer in which Features Projects could be created from projects, records could be deleted from projects, records could be re-georeferenced directly within the workbench, and localities could be edited within the workbench. This all occurred at 17:00 PDT 26 Oct 2007. If you wonder whether your project should use the steps on this page, look in the macros of your Access database and see if there is a macro called "Check Features". If there is, continue with the steps below.

1) WORK CENTER: Claim region to georeference via email to JRW.

2) JOHN: Download specimens from ORNIS using "ORNIS georeferencing result set" structure.

3) JOHN: Load file from step2 into a copy of the "ornisgeoreftemplate.mdb" database, named for the Georeferencing center and the contents (e.g., UMMZ-Michigan-Gogebic.mdb). This file contains queries, macros, import specifications, and export specifications for processing data for input into BioGeomancer.

4) JOHN: Compare localities in the file from step 3 to MaNIS, HerpNET, Mexican Bird Atlas, and Carla's research georeferences. Set georeferences for those that do already exist from these other projects.

5) JOHN: Have BioGeomancer create a feature report from unique localities for a region, with source, coordinates, extent.

6) JOHN: Send Access database ready for processing to work center that claimed the region.

7) WORK CENTER: Run macro 'Check Features' and fill in the fields 'Correct?', 'Should Be' and 'Checked?' for every record. Records that have nonsense place names should have 'Correct?' and 'Should Be' left blank. Records that are misspelled or nonstandard (e.g., "Turin Twp" should be "Turin Township"), should have 'Correct?' left blank and the correct form in 'Should Be'. Records that are correct should have 'Correct?' checked and 'Should Be' can be left blank. If you don't finish the 'Check Features' in one sitting you can reopen it. Only the unchecked features will show up in the list when it is reopened. When all features have been checked, go to step 8.

8) WORK CENTER: Run the macro 'Export Features for BioGeomancer', which will save a file 'FeaturesForBioGeomancer.txt' in the default database folder for Access (see footnote about Access default database folders).

9) WORK CENTER: Log in to BioGeomancer and upload the file from step 8 as a new project with a name reflecting the region and the fact that this is a feature-only data set. Example: 'ORNIS Michigan Features'.

10) WORK CENTER: When BioGeomancer is done georeferencing the file uploaded in step 9 (BioGeomancer will continue to georeference even if you log out), edit the records until no record has more than one georeference and all of the georeferences are correct (point in the geographic center, radius covering the entirety of the named place, but no bigger).

11) WORK CENTER: Download the file for the georeferences completed in step 10 to a file named so that it is recognizable for its content and send this to John. Example: 'MichiganFeaturesFromBioGeomancer.txt'

12) JOHN: Assess, validate, spot check, and update BioGeomancer with georeferenced feature report from step 11. Inform work center this is done. Be sure to capture reasonable synonyms in the BG gazetteer so that thee features can be georeferenced automatically.

13) WORK CENTER: When informed that the georeferences for the features for a region are entered into BioGeomancer, run the 'Prepare Output File For BioGeomancer' macro, which will export a file called 'OutputForBioGeomancer.txt'.

14) WORK CENTER: Log in to BioGeomancer and upload the file from step 13 as a new project with a name reflecting the region and the fact that this is a full-localities data set. Example: 'ORNIS Michigan Localities'.

15) WORK CENTER: When BioGeomancer is done georeferencing the file uploaded in step 14 (BioGeomancer will continue to georeference even if you log out), edit the records until no record has more than one georeference and all of the georeferences are correct.

16) WORK CENTER: Download the file for the georeferences completed in step 15 to a file named 'GeoreferencesFromBioGeomancer.txt' in the default Access data directory (see footnote about default database folders).

17) WORK CENTER: Run the 'Import Finished BioGeomancer Georefs' macro, which puts the georeferences into the 'UniqueLocsTable' where all of the georeferencing information for this region is stored. Running this macro will open the 'UniqueLocsTable' and the 'YetToBeGeorefed' query. These, as well as the query called 'All Localities Containing NamedPlace' can be used to add any missing georeferences. If you can't finish the georeferences right away, you can come back to the Access database and run the 'Add Missing Georefs Manually' macro, which will open the 'UniqueLocsTable' and 'YetToBeGeorefed' query for further editing. You may also run the macro 'Add Georefs for a particular place', which allows you to enter a string in a dialog box and find all of the records containing that string in the Locality field. This is useful if you want to find all of the localities (georeferenced or not) for a given town, for example. At any time you can open the query called 'Incomplete Georefs', or run the macro 'Check for Incomplete Georefs', which will show georeferences that are incomplete. The field 'Missing' shows what is missing for the georeference.

18) WORK CENTER: When all georeferences for the file are finished, run the 'Add DeterminedByPerson and DeterminedDate' macro, which will allow the user to set the DeterminedByPerson and DeterminedDate for all newly georeferenced records at once that don't already have them filled in. Provide the full name of the georeferencer followed by the institution acronym in parentheses. Example: John Wieczorek (MVZ)

19) WORK CENTER: Zip up the finished georeference file and send it to John, who will check that it arrived intact, check that the data are complete, and archive the file for later bulk processing when all of the georeferencing is done.

*FOOTNOTE:

Access versions previous to 2007 and later than 97: The default Access data directory can be discovered, and changed, by looking at the Tools/Options menu under the "General" tab in a text box labeled "Default database folder:". In the newest version of Access I'm not sure where you can find and change this setting, so you may need to look in Help for "default database folder". This setting applies to the Access program as a whole, not for the individual databases you've loaded with Access. This means that the default database folder will remain the same between Access databases that you open. So, the best way to deal with this is to set the default database directory to '.' (just a period, no quotes), which tells Access to put files in the current directory and look in the current directory for files. That way, you can have lots of different database files, each in its own folder, and when you run the macros for any of them they will look inside the same folder from which the access database is run.

Access 2007: In this version the "Access Database folder" can be found on the external data tab, export section in the bottom right, click on "More" and the first option is the Access Database.