Mapmate

[Dan Salter]

I am now a Mapmate whore...i wanted to join the likes of Susie

I bought recorder 6 last year and not only has it been problematic installing with an error i cant seem to get around to do with the SQL thingymajig but its so massively complicated to use...i wont give up on it as i want to be able to have recorder 6 and mapmate on my cv....but until i get to grips with recorder i have just recieved the much easier and simpler mapmate 2 in the post...hopefully will install ok?

Unless i havent spotted it maybe there could be a seperate sub forum for biological recording? mapmate and recorder and any other techniques?

Dan Salter BSc hons......lol

[poschiavanus]

Dan,

I'd be very interested in exchanging tips and tricks about using MapMate (current issue: how to record scale insects). I'd think though it might be a minority interest for many WABbers, so keeping a single thread might do the job for now. If it gets lots of attention it could be made a sticky.

Cheers,

posch

[Dan Salter]

I know on recorder if something is not already in the species directory then you can add things manually, i presume (and hope) its the same on mapmate?...so you may have to find the scientific names and add your scale insects manually no?

Going to try and install my mapmate tonight after BGT ...sad i know

[JennyS]

I'd be interested in a MapMate/ Recorder section - at the moment I'm struggling with recording lichen in MapMate as many names are way out of date and the more recently recognised species totally missing......

If there's a way of adding species manually I'd love to know how.

(I'd been wondering about getting a copy of Recorder 6 but after reading your post Dan I don't think I'd be up to it!)

[Dan Salter]

Are you getting your regular species updates from the mapmate site?

Im going to start a recorder 6 thread to even things up.

[Dan Salter]

Ok mapmate installed effortlessly in minutes which is already one tick for mapmate against recorder 6 (for me personally)..i shall try and re-install recorder 6 again soon and get to the bottom of the error i keep getting =(

[poschiavanus]

Forgot to check this thread.

Just a couple of recent things I've found out:

• Lichens. Jenny, if you use the BLS taxon number then everything should get recorded properly (albeit with an out-of-date name). You only have to type the number in and you should find the lichen: BUT you need to have defaults set to Lichens otherwise you'll get moths and others.
• Multiple-record Sets. The help is not very useful about multiple record sets (basically different access databases for different data sets). I've found that if you copy an empty Dataset.mdb in the Records directory you automatically get a new data set in the user interface. Haven't yet found a use for it.

Posch

[JennyS]

Thanks posch,
I've figured the defaults and I'm entering the species ok as Dobson etc give previous names, but I'm wondering whether I'll then have to manually alter every name that changes when MapMate finally update their database

Multiple-record Sets. The help is not very useful about multiple record sets (basically different access databases for different data sets). I've found that if you copy an empty Dataset.mdb in the Records directory you automatically get a new data set in the user interface

You've lost me on this one ..... I'm not very technically-minded!

[poschiavanus]

OK I've had a quick play with different data sets and it looks very useful. The most useful thing I can see is that you can have a different data set by location or taxonomic group. The defaults can be different for each data set.

The base MapMate installation adds a sample dataset of Pyralid Moths in Somerset. You can select this by clicking on the text to the right of the label "Dataset" which is on the bar below the menu options:



With a default installation you should get two options: "Records" and "Sample...Somerset". If you select the latter and then try and enter a record (any rubbish will do) it wont let you unless the taxon is a Pyralid moth and the location is in Somerset.

I sort of knew this, but didn't see that it was any use to me, because I didn't know how to create extra datasets for my own use. I think that separate datasets for taxonomic groups could be very useful as I could enter data much faster: particularly ones which I record frequently.

The datasets are all held in a single directory of the MapMate installation. ..\MapMate\Records where .. would typically be the Program Files directory on your C: drive. Each dataset is a single file ending with .MDB (a Microsoft Access database file). In the default installation I think there are three files: the one called Dataset.MDB is an empty database which is not used by MapMate, but is a template for additional datasets. If you make a copy of this it magically appears in the list of datasets when you start MapMate. If you change defaults whilst using a new dataset they only apply to that file.

For me it means that I might have separate datasets for: Garden Moths, Plant Galls and possibly for a couple of locations. The problems are that I often record other taxa with the moths, and I may need to run several queries before sending records off to county recorders etc.

Hope this is more informative.

Posch

PS. I don't think there is any need to manually change names. If you are forwarding lichen records to the national scheme the names get assigned a hidden code (the NBNSYSKEY) which links to the current approved name. I think MapMate uses something similar internally: so, if and when, there is a update of the taxon list, these should still link to the right place. I think the BSBI list has been updated a couple of times in the last few years and I think there are a lot of botanical users of MapMate.

[earthdragon64]

One little tip I've found really useful with Mapmate is the ~ key. If you have your defaults set for Macro-moths for example whilst entering records and you have one Butterfly species to add, instead of having to change your defaults to Butterflies, use ~ immediately before you start typing the species name in the taxon field and you'll be able to enter it.