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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Hi all,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I am working on a project that deals with storing,
retrieving and displaying field collected data about plant species. Data will
often be entered on laptops in the field and later uploaded onto the web and
database server once an internet connection is available. Thus the project
involves both<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>* an internet based application for managing , updating and
viewing spatial data and<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>* a desktop application enabling the "disconnected
collection" and editing of data This is pretty similar to the approach
taken by the initial version of the Open Ocean map (desktop component based on
QGIS - compare http://www.ecotrust.org/ocean/OpenOceanMap.html ) <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>While from my perspective the web based part can relatively
easily accomplished using Open Source components, the other component - a
desktop tool to collect the data in the field that should at the same time be
compatible with the desktop system could potentially prove to be more tricky.
One problem is that we might have to use ArcGIS as a desktop tool because users
are familiar with it and are already using it for other tasks. Unfortunately
(from my experience) ArcGIS is not really good in displaying related table
information in one-to-many relationships. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Basically for each mapping polygon (there are many areas and
many species) over time different users will enter information about species.
Those will have times attached to them. This will create a time series that
once can monitor changes over time (did the species decrease or increase in
that area). Thus the database design I wanted to use will have 3 related tables
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>1. polygon GIS layer of areas (static) <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>2. a 'record" table (update all the time)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>that will store each record ever entered with fields such as
species name, species_id, user, date, and map_area_id (this table will be
related in a may to one relationship to the mapping areas using the map_area_id
(many records related to one mapping area. In the end this table will have
information for each of the mapping areas, for each area several hundred
species, for each species multiple entries over time and from different users.
Thus that absolutely doe not follow the standard format of one column one could
use to symbolize this on the map in ArcGIS. However using zigGIS this can be
pulled from PostGIS. Using a “view” in a PostGIS with a definition
query in ArcGIS can handle the display in ArcGIS .<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>3. table of species (pretty static)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>with specific species data (common and scientific names,
species_id, web links etc...) related to the records table using the
species_id <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Now I am looking for a field enabled solution (no internet
access) on the desktop that can handle the editing of multiple mapping areas
(assigning to many map areas values for one of the species for example. The
data should be stored in a format that we can then (hopefully easily) upload to
the PostGIS database as new records ... ArcGIS can handle the editing very well
but not the relationships we will create (out of the box at least not), also zigGIS
does not allow the related tables to be edited out of the box.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>We could do this adapting the OpenOcean Map tools - but
would need to enable advanced editing (to allow updating many map areas records
and multiple attribute data at once in a form) . Or we could use ArcGIS for
editing and define an upload mechanism to PostGIS . But whish data storage
format to use ZigGIS is not ready for editing for related tables … Another
thought is using some set-up of GIS on a stick (flash drive) …<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Any suggestions how to approach this best?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Thanks Karsten<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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