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EcoPlots CSV output Description
This output format is the most used in EcoPlots. The file contains all the information about the sites, visits and ecological observations related to features of interest. The data in each CSV is grouped according to the Feature of interest selected with the filters during the search process. No further data filtering, cleaning or processing is necessary as data in each file can be analysed using any tool or programming language such as R or Python.
Two types of CSV files are included in each dataset package.
Data Packages
TERN data packages can be downloaded to the local machine as compressed zip files. Once uncompressed, the folder structure contains a data folder with the CSV files containing the data dictionary and observations (see below image). The data dictionary file is represented by the naming convention “data_dictionary_packagerID”; observation files are represented by “feature-of-interest-name_observations_packagerID”. Observations related to each feature of interest are stored in individual CSV files.
Each CSV contains a common set of columns to identify each record. The table below gives brief definitions of each column.
Observations data specific to a Feature of Interest
The observation CSV files contain all the information related to the observation. The common set of attributes in the CSV files are as follows:
Column | Description |
|---|---|
datasetTitle | Datasource/Dataset to which this data row belongs to. |
projectTitle | Project to which this data row belongs to. |
siteName | Ecological site where data was collected. |
parentSiteName | Ecological site name, which is the parent of the site where data was collected |
latitude_Degree | Latitude geographic coordinate of ecological site. |
longitude_Degree | Longitude geographic coordinate of ecological site. |
plotWidth_Metre | plot dimension width |
plotLength_Metre | plot dimension length |
topParentSiteName | The larger site to which this ecological site belongs to. |
siteVisitName | unique identifier of the site visit instance |
siteVisitStartDate | Start date of the site visit |
siteVisitEndDate | End date of the site visit |
featureType | The feature of interest type related to the observation (e.g., a plant individual, plant specimen, landform, weather, etc.). |
featureId | Unique identifier of the feature, e.g. stem-1a, tree-1, bird-0123456, specimen-ABC123. |
parentFeatureId | Unique identifier of the greater feature to which the current feature is part of, e.g. tree-1 -> stem-1b. |
The sample CSV file is shown below:
The columns in the image below are specific ecological observations found in the columns to the right of the base data columns. Each row contains the ecological observations recorded during that sampling effort. The specific data included in each file is based on the filtering done during the EcoPlots searching process before the package generation.
Each observation consist of three columns:
Result of the observation: The column header shows the name of the ecological parameter (i.e. scientificName). Values for this column contain the actual results of the observations made, for instance, the species name of that feature.
Result time: When the observation was made.
Method: This is a link to the vocabulary of the Method/Procedure. Opening the link on any Internet browser will show all the information about the protocol for collecting the data.
In very specific cases, some extra columns may be included in the CSV. Those columns are the “attributes of the feature of interest” (i.e. plant-individual or soil-sample):
Attributes are easily identifiable because they consist exclusively of 1 column (no result time or method). These attributes are not ecological observations but contain important information about the feature, i.e., the soil sample's depth or a plant's relative position within the site.
Data dictionary
Along with the data CSVs, a “data_dictionary” is included in the package. It shows all columns included in the package, their definitions, and where to find additional information.
The “Additional information” column contains links to the controlled vocabularies of the specific attributes or parameters. Below is the definition of field species name in the TERN-controlled vocabulary.
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